Committee creates working group to explore basic state health plan with added stakeholders

The House Committee on Health on April 17 amended and adopted SCR 50 SD1, establishing a Hawaii Health Plan working group charged with designing and recommending a basic, affordable plan for state residents.

Jack Lewin of SHIPTA told the committee the working group should prioritize a low-cost option for people who are not Medicaid-eligible but cannot afford commercial insurance. "We already have something like about 3.4% of the population. That's 50,000 people who can't afford to buy insurance, but make too much to be Medicaid eligible," Lewin said, describing past work on a State Health Insurance Plan that covered tens of thousands in earlier decades.

Members amended the resolution to designate SHIPTA as chair of the working group and to add a Med-Quest administration representative and a representative of the Hawaii Medical Association (or their designees). Legislators discussed resurrecting elements of the prior State Health Insurance Plan statute, noting the statute still exists although it is currently unfunded.

The committee recorded adoption of the amended SCR 50 SD1 and noted the excused absence of Representative Amato and a reservation from Representative Garcia.

What happens next: The working group will be convened per the resolution language, with membership updated to include Med-Quest and the Hawaii Medical Association. Any proposal for a funded program or state subsidies would require future legislative action and appropriation.