THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2137
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

Relating to Medicaid.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  Independently performing activities of daily living can become more difficult for individuals as they age.  A large portion of Hawaii's aging population is medicaid-eligible and find themselves in need of long-term care.  Due to a shortage of care providers in Hawaii, the preference of the elderly to age in place with their families, and the high cost of long-term care, family caregiving has become more prevalent.  However, family caregivers are often uncompensated for their services.  According to a recent report by the AARP Public Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., Hawaii has 169,000 caregivers at any given time who provide unpaid assistance to elderly, chronically ill, or disabled family members or friends.     The purpose of this Act is to allow medicaid recipients who receive long-term care the option of using medicaid funds to pay family members for in-home care services.

     SECTION 2.  Section 346D-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new definition to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows:

     ""Family member" means the waiver program individual's birth parents, adoptive parents or stepparents, siblings or stepsiblings, children or stepchildren, grandparents, grandchildren, niece, nephew, aunt, uncle, or spouse who is at least eighteen years of age."

     SECTION 3.  Section 346D-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

     "(b)  The program shall provide the services in the most economic manner feasible which is compatible with preserving quality of care through:

     (1)  Informal care providers, such as family members, friends, or neighbors who regularly provide specific services without remuneration and not as a part of any organized volunteer activity;

     (2)  Family members hired and directed by the waiver program individual to provide specific approved in-home care services;

    [(2)] (3)  Individual providers hired and directed by the waiver program individual to provide specific approved services;

    [(3)] (4)  Contracts with agency providers, such as home care agencies and public or private health and social service organizations;

    [(4)] (5)  Contracts with individual providers, such as counselors, nurses, therapists, and residential alternative program operators who provide services for the waiver program; and

    [(5)] (6)  Program personnel, such as social workers and nurses who are hired by the waiver program to provide specific services."

     SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

    

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

 

 

Report Title:

Medicaid Home and Community-Based Waiver Programs; Family Member

 

Description:

Requires medicaid home and community-based waiver programs to allow family members hired and directed by the waiver program individual to provide specific approved in-home care services to the individual.

 

 

 

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