Bill Text: HI SB1452 | 2012 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Health Insurance; Tobacco Use Cessation

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-12-01 - Carried over to 2012 Regular Session. [SB1452 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-SB1452-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 380

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1452

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 1452 entitled:

 

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

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require health insurers to provide coverage for specified types of smoking cessation methods in an effort to curtail the prevalence of smoking addiction and its related health problems.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Lana‘i Community Health Center, Hawai‘i Primary Care Association, ‘Ohana Health Plan, the American Heart Association, Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawai‘i, Castle Medical Center, Rising Up, Inc., and four private citizens.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Association of Health Plans and Hawaii Medical Service Association.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services, Kaiser Permanente, and the American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus (AFLAC).

 

Your Committees find that the negative effects of tobacco use strain the State's financial resources by directly contributing to the health problems of Hawaii's residents.  Requiring health insurers to provide coverage for smoking cessation methods will provide an additional step in battling the problems associated with smoking.  Based on testimony received, your Committees find that the measure could be improved by including coverage for all tobacco use cessation methods.  Furthermore, your Committees also find that by eliminating co-payments and including coverage for group counseling sessions, the measure could reach more of Hawaii's residents who are struggling to reduce or cease tobacco use.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Expanding the coverage for tobacco use cessation;

 

     (2)  Requiring coverage for group therapy and over-the-counter nicotine replacement products;

 

     (3)  Requiring that coverage for tobacco use cessation methods be provided without co-payments or deductibles;

 

     (4)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to allow for further discussion; and

 

     (5)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency. 

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1452, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1452, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

 

____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair		____________________________ JOSH GREEN, M.D., Chair