Bill Text: HI SR173 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging The Department Of Human Services To Designate Two Full-time Equivalent Employees To Assist Compact Of Free Association Migrants To Enroll In Medicaid.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 12-0)

Status: (Passed) 2022-06-06 - Certified copies of resolutions sent, 06/06/22. [SR173 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2022-SR173-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	173
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO Designate two Full-time equivalent employees to Assist Compact of Free Association migrants to Enroll in medicaid.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the United States has international treaty agreements, known as the Compacts of Free Association, with three island nations in the Pacific--the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau--collectively known as the Freely Associated States; and

 

     WHEREAS, under the Compacts, the United States grants the Freely Associated States funds for education, health care, and infrastructure, in exchange for the exclusive right to use their territories for the United States' military strategic positioning in the Pacific; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Compacts provide citizens of the Freely Associated States broad migration privileges to the United States and its jurisdictions as "COFA migrants"; and

 

     WHEREAS, when COFA migrants enter the United States, they are given a "non-immigrant" immigration status without an expiration date and can therefore freely enter, exit, reside, and work indefinitely in the United States and its jurisdictions; and

 

     WHEREAS, COFA migrants, despite having the status of "non-immigrants", share many of the difficulties faced by immigrants in the United States, including access to health insurance; and

 

     WHEREAS, many COFA migrants suffer from chronic diseases and health conditions related to radiation exposure from the nuclear testing performed by the United States in or above the Freely Associated States from 1946 to 1958; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, P.L. 104-193, which reformed the nation's welfare system, changed the definition of "qualified non-citizens" to exclude COFA migrants, and thereby stripped most adult COFA migrants of their eligibility for Medicaid coverage, except for services that are necessary to treat an emergency medical condition; and

 

     WHEREAS, in Hawai‘i, non-Hawaiian Pacific Islanders make up more than a quarter of coronavirus disease 2019 cases despite comprising just four percent of the population, making health insurance coverage even more essential for these residents; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, P.L. 116-260, restored Medicaid eligibility to COFA migrants, and as of December 27, 2020, all states and the District of Columbia are required to provide coverage for all Medicaid benefits, including benefits under the state plan, to COFA migrants who otherwise meet all of the eligibility requirements in the state plan; and

 

     WHEREAS, COFA migrants may now enroll in Medicaid at any time by completing an application online on the Health Insurance Marketplace website or by contacting their State Medicaid Agency; and

 

     WHEREAS, the State Medicaid Agency for Hawai‘i is the Department of Human Services' Med-Quest Division; and

 

     WHEREAS, many COFA migrants in Hawai‘i, many of whom have felt disadvantaged by the State's medical system, have not taken the initiative to enroll in Medicaid, which can be a lengthy and complicated process; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, that the Department of Human Services is urged to designate two full-time equivalent (2.0 FTE) employees to assist COFA migrants to enroll in Medicaid, including establishing and implementing an outreach program to inform the COFA community in Hawai‘i of the eligibility criteria and enrollment process; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Human Services.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Compacts of Free Association (COFA); Freely Associated States; Republic of the Marshall Islands; Federated States of Micronesia; the Republic of Palau; Medicaid; Department of Human Services