REPORT TITLE:
Medical assistance


DESCRIPTION:
Covers all children under the state's children's health insurance
program up to three hundred per cent of the federal poverty level
for Hawaii.  Provides health insurance to all permanent legal
immigrant residents. (HB540 HD2)


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        540
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO HUMAN SERVICES.



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

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that with the enactment of
 
 2 the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Responsibility
 
 3 Act of 1996, Congress stripped away medical assistance and other
 
 4 benefits from income qualified immigrants.  A citizen's right to
 
 5 access these benefits were, however, untouched.  Despite the fact
 
 6 that scholars, courts, and attorney generals have declared these
 
 7 discriminatory provisions illegal, Hawaii has failed to accord
 
 8 immigrants the equal protections they are entitled.
 
 9      The legislature further finds that the state's children's
 
10 health insurance program is expected, upon approval by the
 
11 federal health care financing administration, to enroll all
 
12 uninsured children under nineteen whose family's income does not
 
13 exceed two hundred per cent of the federal poverty level for
 
14 Hawaii.  The 1999 legislature appropriated up to ten per cent
 
15 from the Hawaii tobacco master settlement agreement to implement
 
16 the state's children's health insurance program.  Should the
 
17 legislature appropriate additional funds, the department of human
 
18 services would be able to amend the state's plan and enroll
 
19 uninsured children whose family's income does not exceed three
 
20 hundred per cent of the federal poverty level for Hawaii.  This
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 would help an additional three thousand three hundred uninsured
 
 2 children, and would cost the state $1,260,000 at the thirty-five
 
 3 per cent share and would cost the federal government $2,340,000
 
 4 at the sixty-five per cent share.  The legislature finds that
 
 5 there are compelling economic arguments in favor of this
 
 6 expansion.
 
 7      The legislature believes that it has an opportunity to not
 
 8 only increase the numbers of uninsured children receiving health
 
 9 insurance, but to provide health insurance to all permanent legal
 
10 immigrant residents as well.
 
11      The purpose of this Act is to:
 
12      (1)  Cover all children under the state's children's health
 
13           insurance program up to three hundred per cent of the
 
14           federal poverty level for Hawaii; and
 
15      (2)  Provide health insurance to all permanent legal
 
16           immigrant residents.
 
17      SECTION 2.  Chapter 346, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
18 by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
19 read as follows:
 
20      "§346-    Medical assistance to legal immigrants.  The
 
21 department may provide state-funded medical assistance for:
 
22      (1)  Legal permanent residents who arrived in the United
 
23           States after August 22, 1999;
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      (2)  Immigrants who are permanently residing in the United
 
 2           States under color of law; or
 
 3      (3)  People who are residing in the United States with the
 
 4           knowledge or permission of the Immigration and
 
 5           Naturalization Service,
 
 6 who are otherwise eligible for benefits under the state's
 
 7 medicaid programs, including QUEST and the state's children
 
 8 health insurance program, but are ineligible due to restricted
 
 9 eligibility rules imposed by Title XXI of the Social Security Act
 
10 in the federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997 or the Personal
 
11 Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act of 1996."
 
12      SECTION 3.  Section 328L-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
13 amended to read as follows:
 
14      "[[]§328L-4[]]  Use of funds appropriated to the department.
 
15 The department, immediately upon receipt of the thirty-five per
 
16 cent of moneys appropriated pursuant to section 328L-2(b)(2)
 
17 shall:
 
18      (1)  Transfer up to [ten]     per cent of the total moneys
 
19           received by the State from tobacco settlement moneys to
 
20           the department of human services for the children's
 
21           health insurance program; and
 
22      (2)  Expend the remainder of the moneys received by the
 
23           department for health promotion and disease prevention
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           programs, including but not limited to, maternal child
 
 2           health and child development programs, promotion of
 
 3           healthy lifestyles (including fitness, nutrition, and
 
 4           tobacco control), and prevention oriented public health
 
 5           programs.
 
 6      For purposes of paragraph (2), the director shall convene an
 
 7 advisory group that shall be separate from the tobacco prevention
 
 8 and control advisory board, to strategically plan the development
 
 9 and implementation of preventive systems to achieve measurable
 
10 outcomes and to make recommendations for the expenditure of these
 
11 moneys.  The advisory group shall be composed of nine members
 
12 with expertise in the programs under paragraph (2), and shall be
 
13 selected at the discretion of the director."
 
14      SECTION 4.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
15 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $      or so much
 
16 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001 to provide
 
17 state-funded medical assistance for:
 
18      (1)  Legal permanent residents who arrived in the United
 
19           States after August 22, 1999;
 
20      (2)  Immigrants who are permanently residing in the United
 
21           States under color of law; or
 
22      (3)  People who are residing in the United States with the
 
23           knowledge or permission of the Immigration and
 
24           Naturalization Service,
 
25 who are otherwise eligible for benefits under the state's
 
26 medicaid programs, including QUEST and the state's children's
 
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                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 health insurance program, but are ineligible due to restricted
 
 2 eligibility rules imposed by Title XXI of the Social Security Act
 
 3 in the federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997 or the Personal
 
 4 Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act of 1996.
 
 5      The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of
 
 6 human services for the purposes of this Act.
 
 7      SECTION 5.  There is appropriated out of the Hawaii tobacco
 
 8 settlement special fund the sum of $     or so much thereof as
 
 9 may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001 to provide medical
 
10 assistance for all children under the state's children's health
 
11 insurance program up to three hundred per cent of the federal
 
12 poverty level for Hawaii.
 
13      The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of
 
14 human services for the purposes of this Act.
 
15      SECTION 6.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
16 New statutory material is underscored.
 
17      SECTION 7.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval;
 
18 provided that sections 4 and 5 shall take effect on July 1, 2000.