STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3194

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1973

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 1973, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish within the Department of Health a one-year KupunAloha Pilot Program to provide in-home health care and support services to eligible participants who do not otherwise qualify for government assistance for these services; and

(2) Appropriate funds.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, State Health Planning and Development Agency, Home Care Association of America-Hawaii Chapter, Aloha Independent Living Hawaii, and Project Dāna.

Your Committee finds that an estimated twenty-five thousand elderly individuals in the State who require in-home health care or support services and do not qualify for existing government assistance programs, such as Medicare, cannot afford the necessary services. Your Committee further finds that these individuals are among the most vulnerable, and absent government intervention, they face isolation, declining health, high rates of emergency department use and avoidable hospitalizations. This measure supports families, honors cultural values of aging in place, reduces costs to the State, and helps alleviate the strain on the State's health care system.

Your Committee acknowledges the concern raised in testimony by the Home Care Association of America–Hawaii Chapter that while Medicaid and other government assistance programs cover long-term in-home health care and support services, Medicare typically does not. Therefore, the measure's exclusion of Medicare beneficiaries from eligibility for the KupunAloha Pilot Program may inadvertently exclude individuals the program is intended to serve. Accordingly, amendments to this measure are necessary to address this concern.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that an individual shall not be considered eligible for the KupunAloha Pilot Program if the individual is covered by Medicaid or other government assistance programs for in-home health care or support services, rather than covered by Medicare; and

(2) 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 Health and Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1973, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1973, 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 Health and Human Services,

________________________________

JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair