THE SENATE                           S.C.R. NO.            199
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

  URGING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
    STATES, AND THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES TO
    SUPPORT THE HAWAII CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION'S EFFORT TO
    AMEND THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT TO INCREASE HAWAII'S FEDERAL
    MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PERCENTAGE (FMAP).


 1        WHEREAS, the State of Alaska received an increase in its
 2   Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) from 50 percent to
 3   59.8 percent in consideration of the high cost of living in
 4   Alaska by an amendment to the Social Security Act; and 
 5   
 6        WHEREAS, United States Senator Daniel K. Akaka, United
 7   States Senator Daniel K. Inouye, United States Representative
 8   Neil Abercrombie, and United States Representative Patsy T.
 9   Mink have recently introduced federal legislation to amend the
10   Social Security Act to increase Hawaii's FMAP in consideration
11   of Hawaii's high cost of living; and
12   
13        WHEREAS, federal financial participation for the medicaid
14   program is based on the FMAP which is calculated according to a
15   formula based on per capita income in the individual state in
16   relation to the per capita income of the United States; and
17   
18        WHEREAS, the FMAP is calculated as the quotient of the per
19   capita income of the United States, times a multiplier, the
20   state income is determined as a designated portion of the
21   national income as determined at the United States Department
22   of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), and the per
23   capita income of Hawaii is an amount that is derived at the BEA
24   as a portion of national income statistics; and
25   
26        WHEREAS, because of its island location and other factors,
27   the cost of living in Hawaii greatly exceeds the cost of living
28   in the mainland states, so that per capita income is a poor
29   measure of its relative ability to bear the cost of medicaid
30   services; and
31   
32        WHEREAS, a study conducted by the Taubman Center for State
33   and Local Government at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy

 
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 1   School of Government and the Office of United States Senator
 2   Daniel Patrick Moynihan, established that if per capita income
 3   is measured in real terms, considering cost of living factors,
 4   Hawaii ranked 47th at $19,755 compared to the national average
 5   of $24,231, and Alaska is ranked 34th with a real per capita
 6   income level of $21,592; and 
 7   
 8        WHEREAS, the Harvard/Moynihan study cites Hawaii with one
 9   of the highest poverty rates in the nation--Hawaii ranks eighth
10   in the country with a poverty rate of 16.9 percent as compared
11   to the national average of 14.7 percent--and on a per capita
12   basis state revenues and expenditures are far higher in Hawaii,
13   as well as in Alaska, than in the other 48 mainland states, but
14   Alaska's 10.6 percent poverty rate is lower than the national
15   average, placing it 39th in the country; and 
16   
17        WHEREAS, Hawaii has not participated in the economic
18   rebound that has benefitted most of the rest of the nation in
19   the past several years, in part because of its heavy dependence
20   on international tourism and trade, and Hawaii continues to
21   suffer from the drop in value in the Japanese yen, its
22   unemployment rate is above the national average, and its tax
23   revenues have fallen short of estimates; and
24   
25        WHEREAS, based on Hawaii's current medicaid spending level
26   of approximately $700 million, each percentage point increase
27   in its FMAP rate would provide approximately $7 million
28   annually in additional federal funds; and 
29   
30        WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii is seeking to have its
31   medicaid program funded in dollars equal to its tax
32   contributions based on its higher per capita income and one
33   that recognizes its true costs, as was done for Alaska; now,
34   therefore,
35   
36        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
37   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 1999, the House of
38   Representatives concurring, that the Legislature hereby urges
39   the United States Congress, the President of the United States,
40   and the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to
41   support federal legislation offered by the Hawaii Congressional
42   Delegation to amend the Social Security Act to increase
43   Hawaii's FMAP in consideration of our high cost of living; and 

 
 
 
 
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                                  S.C.R. NO.            199
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1   
 2        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
 3   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the members of the
 4   United States Congress, the President of the United States, and
 5   the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and
 6   Human Services. 
 7 
 8 
 9 
10                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________