STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2780

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2917

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2917, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FAMILY PLANNING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to ensure that all residents of the State receive comprehensive quality coverage for sexual reproductive health care services.

More specifically, this measure:

(1) Requires certain insurance policies and individual and group hospital or medical service plan contracts to include benefits for outpatient expenses arising from oocyte cryopreservation procedures, under certain conditions;

(2) Removes the one-time benefit limitation for in vitro fertilization procedures; and

(3) Reduces from five to two the number of years of infertility that a patient or patient's spouse is required to experience before becoming eligible for in vitro fertilization.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from Hawaii Women Lawyers.

Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund, Hawaii Association of Health Plans, Hawaii Medical Service Association, and Kaiser Permanente.

Your Committee finds that this measure will provide important benefits to many families in the State that are currently unable to afford prohibitively expensive fertility treatments and procedures.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

(2) Making technical nonsubstantive changes for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2917, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2917, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair