Bill Text: HI HB1720 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: EUTF; Medicare Part B Premiums
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-05-11 - Carried over to 2010 Regular Session. [HB1720 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2010-HB1720-Introduced.html
Report Title:
EUTF; Medicare Part B Premiums
Description:
Specifies that the requirement that the State and the counties reimburse retired employees for medicare part B premiums through the employer-union trust fund applies only to the employees who retire prior to 07/01/09. Further specifies that there will be no reimbursement for employees who retire after 06/30/09 between the date of their retirement and 06/30/15.
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
1720 |
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TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO EMPLOYER-UNION HEALTH BENEFITS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The purpose of this Act is to assist in reducing the State's projected expenditures in this time of dire economic crisis.
SECTION 2. Section 87A-23, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§87A-23 Health benefits plan supplemental to medicare. The board shall establish a health benefits plan, which takes into account benefits available to an employee-beneficiary and spouse under medicare, subject to the following conditions:
(1) There shall be no duplication of benefits payable under medicare. The plan under this section, which shall be secondary to medicare, when combined with medicare and any other plan to which the health benefits plan is subordinate under the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' coordination of benefit rules, shall provide benefits that approximate those provided to a similarly situated beneficiary not eligible for medicare;
(2) The State, through the department of budget and
finance, and the counties, through their respective departments of finance,
shall pay to the fund a contribution equal to an amount not less than the
medicare part B premium, for each of the following who are enrolled in the
medicare part B medical insurance plan: (A) an employee-beneficiary who is a
retired employee, (B) an employee-beneficiary's spouse while the
employee-beneficiary is living, and (C) an employee-beneficiary's spouse, after
the death of the employee-beneficiary, if the spouse qualifies as an
employee-beneficiary. For purposes of this section, a "retired
employee" means a retired [members] member of the
employees' retirement system; county pension system; or a police, firefighters,
or bandsmen pension system of the State or a county as set forth in chapter 88[.];
provided that the member retired prior to July 1, 2009; and provided further
that if the member retired after June 30, 2009, the member shall not be deemed
a "retired employee" between the date of retirement and June 30, 2015.
If the amount reimbursed by the fund under this section is less than the actual
cost of the medicare part B medical insurance plan due to an increase in the
medicare part B medical insurance plan rate, the fund shall reimburse each
employee-beneficiary and employee-beneficiary's spouse for the cost increase
within thirty days of the rate change. Each employee-beneficiary and
employee-beneficiary's spouse who becomes entitled to reimbursement from the
fund for medicare part B premiums after July 1, 2006, shall designate a
financial institution account into which the fund shall be authorized to
deposit reimbursements. This method of payment may be waived by the fund if
another method is determined to be more appropriate;
(3) The benefits available under this plan, when combined with benefits available under medicare or any other coverage or plan to which this plan is subordinate under the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' coordination of benefit rules, shall approximate the benefits that would be provided to a similarly situated employee-beneficiary not eligible for medicare;
(4) All employee-beneficiaries or dependent-beneficiaries who are eligible to enroll in the medicare part B medical insurance plan shall enroll in that plan as a condition of receiving contributions and participating in benefits plans under this chapter. This paragraph shall apply to retired employees, their spouses, and the surviving spouses of deceased retirees and employees killed in the performance of duty; and
(5) The board shall determine which of the employee-beneficiaries and dependent-beneficiaries, who are not enrolled in the medicare part B medical insurance plan, may participate in the plans offered by the fund."
SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2009 and shall be repealed on June 30, 2015.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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