Bill Text: HI SCR62 | 2022 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Requesting The Auditor To Conduct A Social And Financial Assessment Of Proposed Mandatory Health Insurance Coverage.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 12-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-04-19 - Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on CPC with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Hashimoto, McKelvey, Ward excused (3). [SCR62 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2022-SCR62-Amended.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	62
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE AUDITOR TO CONDUCT A SOCIAL AND FINANCIAL ASSESSMENT OF PROPOSED MANDATORY HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE.

 

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii has long been a leader in advancing reproductive rights and advocating for equitable and affordable access to sexual and reproductive health care; and

 

     WHEREAS, federal protections for abortion, preventative care, contraceptives, and other sexual and reproductive health care services are consistently threatened, making state protections for these services especially critical; and

 

     WHEREAS, other states have enacted laws that effectively eliminate abortion access in their states, reflecting a broad strategy to challenge and overturn the United States Supreme Court's holding in Roe v. Wade, which protects abortion access; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Trump administration made it difficult for insurers to cover abortion care and assembled a Supreme Court that may restrict abortion access and strike down the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; and

 

     WHEREAS, eliminating the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would force many Hawaii residents to pay more out-of-pocket health care costs, leading many to delay or forego needed care; and

 

     WHEREAS, access to sexual and reproductive health care, including no-cost preventive services, is critical for the health and economic security of all people in Hawaii and can help prevent more costly treatments in the future; and

 

     WHEREAS, House Bill No. 249, originally introduced during the Regular Session of 2021, would prohibit discrimination in the provision of sexual and reproductive health care services and would require health insurers, mutual benefit societies, and health maintenance organizations to provide coverage without cost-sharing for a range of reproductive health services, drugs, devices, products, and procedures; and

 

     WHEREAS, section 23-51, Hawaii Revised Statutes, requires that, before considering any legislative measure that mandates health insurance coverage for specific health services, specific diseases, or certain providers of health care services as part of individual or group health insurance policies, the Legislature shall pass a concurrent resolution asking the Auditor to prepare and submit to the Legislature a report that assesses the social and financial effects of the proposed mandatory coverage; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Auditor is requested to conduct a social and financial assessment of House Bill No. 249, which was introduced during the Regular Session of 2021; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to determine whether the proposed mandated benefits in House Bill No. 249 (2021) are in excess of the essential health benefits under the Affordable Care Act, thus requiring the State to defray such costs; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to research whether mandating the full range of reproductive health services, at no cost-share, is in violation of section 1303 of the Affordable Care Act; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to submit a report of the Auditor's findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2023; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor, Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, and Insurance Commissioner.

Report Title:

Auditor; Reproductive Health; Protections