Bill Text: HI SB2690 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund; Health Benefits Plan Supplemental to Medicare
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-01-27 - (S) Referred to LBR/HTH, WAM. [SB2690 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2010-SB2690-Introduced.html
THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
2690 |
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO THE HAWAII EMPLOYER-UNION HEALTH BENEFITS TRUST FUND.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. 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 it
is subordinate under the National Association of Insurance Commissioners'
coordination of benefit rules, shall provide benefits, coverages, and levels
of coverage that approximate those provided to a similarly situated employee-beneficiary
who is retired but not eligible for medicare[;]. The plan
under this section shall coordinate benefits with medicare so that the
employee-beneficiaries and their dependents enrolled in the plan pay co-pays
and deductibles that, as nearly as practicable, approximate the co-pays and
deductibles paid by an employee-beneficiary who is retired but not eligible for
medicare. In no case shall the plan under this section make payments that
duplicate coverage provided by medicare or require the fund to pay more than it
would have paid in the absence of any medicare coverage;
(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 retired members 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. 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)] (3) 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)] (4) 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 2. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2010.
INTRODUCED BY: |
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By Request |
Report Title:
Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund; Health Benefits Plan Supplemental to Medicare
Description:
Clarifies how health benefit plans offered to retirees eligible for Medicare under the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund are to be coordinated with Medicare.
The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.