Bill Text: HI SB503 | 2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To Victims Of Sexual Violence.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 15-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-01-17 - Re-referred to HHS, CPC, FIN, referral sheet 1 [SB503 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2018-SB503-Amended.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
503 |
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TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017 |
S.D. 2 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO VICTIMS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that sexual violence and abuse are extremely prevalent. In the United States, one in six women and one in thirty-three men have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime, while one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before they turn eighteen. According to the Sex Abuse Treatment Center, an estimated 43.9 per cent of women and 23.4 per cent of men have experienced forms of sexual violence other than rape within their lifetimes.
The legislature further finds that victims of sexual violence and abuse often know their abusers. According to the 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 51.1 per cent of female victims of rape reported being raped by an intimate partner and 40.8 per cent reported being raped by an acquaintance, while 52.4 per cent of male victims of rape reported being raped by an acquaintance. The same survey reported that nearly one in ten women in the United States has been raped by an intimate partner in her lifetime, and an estimated 16.9 per cent of women and eight per cent of men have experienced sexual violence other than rape by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime. Furthermore, the majority of children and teen victims of sexual violence and abuse know the perpetrator. According to RAINN, of the sexual abuse cases reported to law enforcement, ninety-three per cent of juvenile victims knew their abusers, with the majority of the perpetrators being either acquaintances or family members.
The legislature additionally finds that sexual violence and abuse can have severe and lasting emotional and mental health impacts on victims. Victims of sexual assault during adulthood suffer post-traumatic stress disorder at a rate between thirty to sixty-five per cent, as well as elevated rates of depressive disorders, parasuicidal behaviors, and substance use disorders. Victims of sexual abuse during childhood are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder at a rate three to five times that of people who have not experienced sexual abuse; have a rate of lifetime depression of fifty-two per cent; and also experience increased rates of suicide and other self-harming behaviors, problems with alcohol use, eating disorders, and disruptions to developmental processes that lead to personality disorders. Consequently, many victims of sexual violence and abuse represent complex mental health cases that require clinical case management services by qualified mental health providers, in addition to psychotherapy, to effectively manage mental illness related to sexual violence and abuse.
The legislature also finds that it can be difficult for victims of sexual violence and abuse to obtain appropriate mental health services due to the limited availability of qualified service providers who are able to take on complex mental health cases. Clinical case management services, which are required for the treatment of complex mental health cases caused, in whole or in part, by sexual violence and abuse, are not generally covered by health insurers. This is a barrier to sufficient provider availability, as clinical case management services are often an unreimbursed expense that discourages providers from accepting these complex cases.
Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to improve mental health service availability for victims of sexual violence and abuse by requiring insurance coverage for appropriate, related case management services by qualified mental health providers for victims of sexual violence and abuse who suffer from mental illness.
SECTION 2. Section 431M-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding two new definitions to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows:
""Case management" means a professional intervention conducted by a qualified mental health provider that identifies needs and assists in obtaining coordinated, appropriate services and resources for a victim of sexual violence and abuse. "Case management" includes but is not limited to:
(1) Coordinating with other health care providers, such as behavioral and mental health care providers; and
(2) Assisting victims of sexual violence and abuse obtain appropriate government program entitlements, access insurance coverage, and obtain other appropriate programs and services offered by government agencies and community organizations.
"Victim of sexual violence and abuse" means an individual who suffers from mental illness caused, in whole or in part, by sexual violence and abuse."
SECTION 3. Section 431M-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
"(a)
All individual and group accident and health or sickness insurance policies
issued in this State, individual or group hospital or medical service plan
contracts, and nonprofit mutual benefit society, fraternal benefit society, and health
maintenance organization health plan contracts shall include within their
hospital and medical coverage the benefits of alcohol use disorder, substance
use disorder, and mental health treatment services, including services for
alcohol dependence and drug dependence[,] and case management
services for victims of sexual
violence and abuse, except that this section shall not apply
to insurance policies that are issued solely for single diseases, or otherwise
limited, specialized coverage."
SECTION 4. Section 431M-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
"(b) Mental illness benefits.
(1) Covered benefits for mental health services set forth in this subsection shall be limited to coverage for diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All mental health services shall be provided under an individualized treatment plan approved by a physician, psychologist, licensed clinical social worker, licensed marriage and family therapist, licensed mental health counselor, advanced practice registered nurse, or licensed dietitian treating eating disorders, and must be reasonably expected to improve the patient's condition. An individualized treatment plan approved by a licensed clinical social worker, licensed marriage and family therapist, licensed mental health counselor, advanced practice registered nurse, or a licensed dietitian treating eating disorders, for a patient already under the care or treatment of a physician or psychologist shall be done in consultation with the physician or psychologist;
(2) In-hospital and nonhospital residential mental health services as a covered benefit under this chapter shall be provided in a hospital or a nonhospital residential facility. The services to be covered shall include those services required for licensure and accreditation;
(3) Mental health partial hospitalization as a covered benefit
under this chapter shall be provided by a hospital or a mental health
outpatient facility. The services to be covered under this paragraph shall
include those services required for licensure and accreditation; [and]
(4) Mental health outpatient services shall be a covered
benefit under this chapter[.]; and
(5) Case management services by qualified mental health providers for victims of sexual violence and abuse shall be a reimbursable, covered benefit under this chapter. The services to be covered under this paragraph shall be provided directly or contracted out, depending on the plan used."
SECTION 5. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the coverage and reimbursement for case management services for victims of sexual violence and abuse required under sections 2, 3, and 4 of this Act shall apply to all health benefits plans under chapter 87A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, issued, renewed, modified, altered, or amended on or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 6. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 7. This Act shall take effect on June 1, 2050.
Report Title:
Health Insurance; Mental Illness Benefits; Covered Services; Case Management Services; Victims of Sexual Violence and Abuse
Description:
Requires health insurance coverage for case management services by qualified mental health providers for victims of sexual violence and abuse. Takes effect on 6/1/2050. (SD2)
The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
