STAND. COM. REP. NO. 233

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 720

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 720 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH CARE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow individuals who require home care services more than twice weekly, do not have ready access to reliable transportation, and live thirty miles or more from the nearest hospital to be eligible for Medicaid home and community-based services administered by the Department of Human Services.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services.

Your Committee finds that under existing law, the Department of Health is able to administer Medicaid home and community-based services waiver programs for individuals who are aged, chronically ill, disabled, developmentally disabled, or intellectually disabled. This measure increases access to care by expanding eligibility for Medicaid home and community-based services to include individuals who require home care services more than twice weekly, lack reliable transportation, and live in rural areas without easy access to a hospital.

Your Committee has amended this measure by clarifying that the new criteria proposed by this measure expands, rather than narrows, eligibility for Medicaid home and community-based waiver services.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 720, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 720, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

________________________________

RUSSELL E. RUDERMAN, Chair