Bill Text: HI SR112 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Insurance Coverage; Medicaid Expansion; Gap-Group

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-04-05 - The committee on WAM deferred the measure. [SR112 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-SR112-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	112
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING CONSIDERATION OF MEDICAID EXPANSION AS A VIABLE SOLUTION TO PROVIDE INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR HAWAII RESIDENTS WITH INCOME BETWEEN ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-THREE PERCENT AND TWO HUNDRED PERCENT OF THE FEDERAL POVERTY LEVEL.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) was enacted by the United States Congress on March 30, 2010, together with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-152); and

 

WHEREAS, on July 1, 2012, individuals in Hawaii earning more than one hundred thirty-three percent of the federal poverty level were dropped from Medicaid coverage and left without health insurance; and

 

WHEREAS, individuals and families with incomes between one hundred thirty-three percent and two hundred percent of the federal poverty level, also known as the "gap group," are working poor and unlikely to afford the purchase of health insurance through the Hawaii Health Connector; and

 

WHEREAS, the health care needs of the gap group and low-income earners in Hawaii are more complex than higher wage earners and often require multiple support systems more aligned with a Medicaid benefit package than a commercial insurance benefit package; and

 

WHEREAS, patients in the gap group often seek care at community health centers that provide fully integrated health care homes that include the array of preventive, medical, primary, dental, behavioral, social, and enabling services that are needed to attain favorable outcomes for patients with complex and interrelated medical and social challenges; and

 

WHEREAS, the Compacts of Free Association population, which the federal government has not supported under the Medicaid program, has very few individuals in the gap group and therefore will not represent an added cost to the state general fund; and

 

WHEREAS, the federal government will support one hundred percent of the Medicaid expansion for the gap group; and

 

WHEREAS, the two predominant options for Hawaii to pursue in offering health care coverage for individuals earning more than one hundred thirty-three percent of the federal poverty level are expansion of Medicaid or the Hawaii Health Connector; now, therefore,

 

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2013, that this body urges consideration of Medicaid expansion as a viable solution to provide insurance coverage for Hawaii residents with income between one hundred thirty-three percent and two hundred percent of the federal poverty level; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Director of Health, Director of Human Services, Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Insurance Commissioner, and Executive Director of the Hawaii Health Connector.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Insurance Coverage; Medicaid Expansion; Gap-Group