Bill Text: HI HB468 | 2021 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To The Hawaii Employer-union Health Benefits Trust Fund.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2021-07-07 - Act 229, 07/06/2021 (Gov. Msg. No. 1357). [HB468 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2021-HB468-Amended.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
468 |
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THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021 |
H.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO THE HAWAII EMPLOYER-UNION HEALTH BENEFITS TRUST FUND.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Section 87A-23, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§87A-23 Health
benefits plan supplemental to medicare. The board
shall establish a health benefits plan, which takes into account benefits
available to an employee-beneficiary and spouse under medicare, subject to the
following conditions:
(1) There
shall be no duplication of benefits payable under medicare. The plan under this section, which shall be
secondary to medicare, when combined with medicare and any other plan to which
the health benefits plan is subordinate under the National Association of Insurance
Commissioners' coordination of benefit rules, shall provide benefits that
approximate those provided to a similarly situated beneficiary not eligible for
medicare;
(2) The
State, through the department of budget and finance, and the counties, through
their respective departments of finance, shall pay to the fund a contribution
equal to an amount not less than the medicare part B premium, for each of the
following who are enrolled in the medicare part B medical insurance plan: (A) an employee-beneficiary who is a retired
employee; (B) a spouse of an [employee-beneficiary's spouse] employee-beneficiary
hired prior to July 1, 2021, while the employee-beneficiary is living; and (C)
an employee-beneficiary's spouse, after the death of the employee-beneficiary,
if the spouse qualifies as an employee-beneficiary. For purposes of this section, a "retired
employee" means retired members of the employees' retirement system; county
pension system; or a police, firefighters, or bandsmen pension system of the
State or a county as set forth in chapter 88.
If the amount reimbursed by the fund under this section is less than the
actual cost of the medicare part B medical insurance plan due to an increase in
the medicare part B medical insurance plan rate, the fund shall reimburse each
employee‑beneficiary and employee-beneficiary's spouse for the cost
increase within thirty days of the rate change.
Each employee-beneficiary and employee‑beneficiary's spouse who
becomes entitled to reimbursement from the fund for medicare part B premiums
after July 1, 2006, shall designate a financial institution account into which
the fund shall be authorized to deposit reimbursements. This method of payment may be waived by the
fund if another method is determined to be more appropriate;
(3) The
benefits available under this plan, when combined with benefits available under
medicare or any other coverage or plan to which this plan is subordinate under
the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' coordination of benefit
rules, shall approximate the benefits that would be provided to a similarly
situated employee-beneficiary not eligible for medicare;
(4) All
employee-beneficiaries or dependent-beneficiaries who are eligible to enroll in
the medicare part B medical insurance plan shall enroll in that plan as a
condition of receiving contributions and participating in benefits plans under
this chapter. This paragraph shall apply
to retired employees, their spouses, and the surviving spouses of deceased
retirees and employees killed in the performance of duty; and
(5) The
board shall determine which of the employee‑beneficiaries and
dependent-beneficiaries, who are not enrolled in the medicare part B medical
insurance plan, may participate in the plans offered by the fund."
SECTION 2. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on December 25, 2040.
Report Title:
Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund; Medicare Part B Reimbursement; New Hires
Description:
Removes medicare part B reimbursement for spouses of employee‑beneficiaries hired on or after 7/1/2021. Effective 12/25/2040. (HD1)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
