STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1050

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 174

       H.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 174, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require health insurance coverage of orthodontic treatment for orofacial anomalies.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities; American Academy of Pediatrics, Hawaii Chapter; Hawaii Dental Association; and twenty-eight individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health and Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

     Your Committees find that it is estimated that one in five hundred children in the State is born with orofacial anomalies such as cleft lip or cleft palate.  Orthodontic services for the treatment of orofacial anomalies are not included as a benefit of commercial health plans.  Without orthodontic treatment, appropriate care and reconstructive surgical outcomes are compromised and result in functional deficiencies in chewing, swallowing, respiration, and speech; unstable or malpositioned oral structures; premature tooth loss; and other health problems.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 174, H.D. 2, and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

________________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair