Bill Text: HI SCR35 | 2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging The Board Of Trustees Of The Hawaii Employer-union Health Benefits Trust Fund To Include Hearing Aid Assistance In The Health Benefit Plans Available To Retiree-beneficiaries.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-01-30 - Referred to JDL, WAM. [SCR35 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2017-SCR35-Introduced.html
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THE SENATE |
S.C.R. NO. |
35 |
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TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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SENATE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
Urging the board of trustees of the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund to include hearing aid assistance in the health benefit planS available to RETIREE-beneficiaries.
WHEREAS, there are 44,283 retiree-beneficiaries of the Employees' Retirement System of the State of Hawaii, and 9,783 of the beneficiaries are over eighty years of age, including forty-three who are over one hundred years of age; and
WHEREAS, according to the National Institutes of Health, an estimated one-third of Americans between the ages of sixty-five and seventy-five and around one-half of those older than seventy-five have some degree of hearing loss; and
WHEREAS, based on research from the National Institutes of Health and others, hearing loss is now recognized as a significant social and health problem that severely impacts the quality of life of individuals experiencing hearing loss; and
WHEREAS, especially in the elderly, hearing loss can impair the exchange of information, causing loneliness, isolation, dependence, and frustration; and
WHEREAS, Medicare insurance plans only cover hearing testing and do not cover hearing aid purchases and related services; and
WHEREAS, according to the Lions Clubs International Foundation, the average cost of high quality hearing aids is $3,600, and because insurance often does not include hearing aid assistance, many people are left with cheaper, poorly functioning hearing aids; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2017, the House of Representatives concurring, that this body urges the Board of Trustees of the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund to include in the health benefits plans available to retiree-beneficiaries hearing aid assistance up to eighty percent of the cost of high quality hearing aids; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Board of Trustees of the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund, and Board of Trustees of the Employees' Retirement System of the State of Hawaii.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Hearing aid assistance benefits for retired employees.
