(St@teside Published June 22, 2007)

Hawaii:

Hawaii's legislature passed several bills focused on expanding health insurance to children, raising the reimbursement rate for Medicaid providers, and reestablishing insurance rate regulation provisions.

House Bill 1008 expands health care coverage to infants and children in Hawaii through two pilot programs:

• Hawaii Infant Health Program, which provides coverage to uninsured newborn infants, 1 to 30 days of age, up to $10,000 of health care assistance per child; and
• Hawaii Children's Health Care Program, in which eligible children will receive health care coverage through a public-private partnership with the Department of Human Services and one or more managed care plans.

Additionally, HB 1008 increases eligibility for state-only-funded medical assistance to 300 percent FPL from 200 percent.

Senate Bill 1672 provides funding to increase provider reimbursements for physician services caring for Medicaid-eligible persons (including those enrolled in both fee-for-service and managed care forms of Medicaid) up to 100 percent of the Medicare fee schedule.

Senate Bill 12 re-establishes health insurance rate regulation. A law, which had previously established health insurance rate regulation, had been repealed in June 2006 due to a sunset provision. SB 12 re-instates health insurance rate regulation for managed care plans by prohibiting insurance rates that are excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory. Additionally, the bill allows the insurance commissioner to impose monetary penalties on managed care plans that violate the provisions of the bill; up to $500 for each violation, and if the violation is found to be deliberate, the commissioner can impose a penalty of up to $5,000 for each violation. Additionally, the legislation permits the insurance commissioner to suspend the license or operating authority of a managed care plan that fails to comply with the law.