STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3374
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: H.B. No. 1754
H.D. 1
S.D. 1
Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi
President of the Senate
Thirty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2022
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 1754, H.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ADULT DENTAL MEDICAID BENEFITS,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to restore diagnostic, preventive, and restorative dental benefits to adult Medicaid enrollees; provided that the Department of Human Services obtains the maximum federal matching funds available and pursues all funding sources before expending any general revenue appropriations.
Your Committee
received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, University of Hawai‘i System John
A. Burns School of Medicine, Hawaii State Council on Developmental
Disabilities, Executive Office on Aging, Hawaii Dental
Association, AlohaCare, Hawai‘i Public Health Institute -Hawai‘i Oral
Health Coalition, Hawaii Medical Service Association, Hawaii Disability Rights
Center, AARP Hawai‘i, Oral Health Progress and Equity Network
(OPEN), Health Committee of the Democratic
Party of Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i
Children's Action Network Speaks!,
Ho‘ōla
Lāhui Hawai‘i,
Hawaii
Primary Care Association, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan Hawaii, Hawaii
Association of Health Plans, Hawai‘i Section of the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Americans for Democratic Action Hawai‘i, Hawaii
Dental Service, Kaiser Permanente Hawai‘i, Hawaii Dental Hygienists'
Association, Catholic
Charities Hawai‘i,
Papa Ola Lōkahi, ‘Ohana Health Plan, Waimānalo Health
Center, The Queen's Health Systems, ‘Ahahui o na Kauka – Association of Native
Hawaiian Physicians, Parents And Children Together, Hawaii Medical Association,
Kōkua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services, and forty-six
individuals. Your Committee received
comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.
Your Committee finds that oral diseases are a significant health problem that affects the overall health and well-being of many Hawaii residents. Despite this fact, in 2009, the State terminated all preventive and restorative dental care services for adult Medicaid recipients and reduced coverage to emergency-only care that is limited to pain relief, injuries, trauma, and tooth removal and extraction. Your Committee further finds that recent research shows a disproportionate number of adult Medicaid enrollees ages twenty-one to forty-four years using the emergency room to receive emergency dental services. Your Committee is concerned that the lack of preventive and restorative dentistry services for adult Medicaid beneficiaries increases potential health care complications for Hawaii residents, especially those who have co-existing chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease, which may lead to increased disability or death. Investing in preventive dental benefits for Medicaid-enrolled adults will, in the long term, lead to reductions in medical costs paid by Medicaid. Therefore, your Committee believes it is in the best interest of the State and its residents to reinstate coverage of diagnostic, preventive, and restorative dental benefits for adult Medicaid enrollees. This measure will appropriate funds to enable the State to do so.
Your Committee notes that the companion to this measure, S.B. No. 1294, S.D. 2, which was previously passed by the Senate, includes a preamble that sets forth the following three options to restore dental benefits for adult Medicaid beneficiaries with all three options covering periodontal services:
(1) Option 1 ($7,800,000 per year or $3.32 per enrollee) covers a basic dental benefit package of diagnostic, preventive, and restorative services;
(2) Option 2 ($19,900,000 per year or $8.45 per enrollee) includes the basic dental benefit package, plus core prosthodontic services; and
(3) Option 3 ($36,200,000 per year or $15.37 per enrollee) further expands prosthodontic services.
Your Committee notes multiple testimonies providing that the limited dental benefits in Option 1, although helpful, may be insufficient to address the oral health needs of Medicaid beneficiaries in Hawaii whose oral health needs have accumulated over the past decade, and recommending the more comprehensive dental benefits in Option 2.
Accordingly, your
Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Amending
section 1 by incorporating the preamble language of S.B. No. 1294, S.D.
2 (Regular Session of 2022);
(2) Inserting a blank appropriation amount to
restore diagnostic, preventive, and restorative dental benefits to adult Medicaid
enrollees consistent with Option 2;
(3) Making
it effective upon its approval; and
(4) Making
technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and
consistency.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1754, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1754, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,
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________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair |
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