Bill Text: HI SB2199 | 2018 | Regular Session | Amended

Hawaii Senate Bill 2199 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Relating To Insurance.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 18-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-04-03 - The committee(s) on FIN recommend(s) that the measure be deferred. [SB2199 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2018-SB2199-Amended.html

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2199
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII		H.D. 1

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO INSURANCE.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, P.L. 111-148 (Affordable Care Act), as amended, encourages states to develop innovative approaches to ensure that their populations are covered by health insurance. The Act authorizes states to apply for waivers from certain requirements of the Affordable Care Act.

Under section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act, a state may apply for a state innovation waiver, which allows the state to implement innovations that help provide access to quality health insurance while preserving the basic protections of the Affordable Care Act. To be eligible for a waiver, a state must demonstrate that its proposed health insurance reforms are as comprehensive and affordable as the federal requirements for insurance. In addition, the proposed reforms must be budget-neutral for the federal government.

A state that is granted an innovation waiver may receive federal assistance to operate its proposed health insurance reform programs. The amount of assistance may equal the aggregate amount of tax credits and cost-sharing subsidies that the federal government would have otherwise paid for individuals enrolled in a state health insurance exchange.

The legislature further finds that the State has a bold history as an innovator in ensuring that its residents have access to health care. The Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act has ensured the availability of employer-sponsored health insurance for workers and their families, and the State's medicaid program has provided access to comprehensive managed care for low-income families. Hawaii was also the first state to receive a state innovation waiver under section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act. This waiver allowed Hawaii to effect changes to its small business health insurance exchanges that preserved the protections of the Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act.

The legislature notes that Act 43, Session Laws of Hawaii 2017, was enacted to establish the affordable health insurance working group to address the complexities of the health care system in Hawaii and the related uncertainty over the future of the Affordable Care Act in light of recent federal actions to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Act 43 directed the working group to make recommendations on policy issues including:

(1) Minimum standard coverage requirements for individuals;

(2) Essential health care benefits;

(3) Rate setting;

(4) Medicaid expansion;

(5) Financial requirements and financing options; and

(6) Other issues that may arise, pursuant to the discretion of the working group.

One recommendation of the working group was to apply for another section 1332 state innovation waiver to explore the possible establishment of a state reinsurance program for the individual health insurance market. The intent of such a program would be to control the cost of health insurance in Hawaii by providing additional funding and innovative methods of pooling risk to cover health care for high-risk patients with costly medical claims.

Accordingly, in order to implement the recommendations of the affordable health insurance working group, the legislature believes that the State must submit another state innovation waiver proposal to the federal government for approval.

The purpose of this Act is to authorize the State to submit a state innovation waiver proposal to the federal government and to implement the conditions of the waiver upon approval by the federal government.

SECTION 2. The State may submit a state innovation waiver proposal to the United States Secretaries of Health and Human Services and the Treasury to waive certain provisions of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, P.L. 111-148, as amended, as provided under section 1332 of the federal act, and upon approval by the Secretaries, to implement the waiver on or after January 1, 2019.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 3000.

Report Title:

Insurance; Affordable Care Act; State Innovation Waiver; State Reinsurance Program

Description:

Authorizes the State to apply for and implement a waiver from certain provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, as amended. (SB2199 HD1)

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.