Health care bills for isle
seniors headed for vote

A Senate chairman expects
approval for 1 of the proposals

---

By Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.com

Two state Senate committees are expected to vote Wednesday on proposed programs to help seniors with the cost of prescription drugs and with financial assistance to pay for long-term health care.

Senate Consumer Protection Chairman Ron Menor (D, Mililani) said yesterday he expects his committee will approve a House bill that creates the Hawaii Rx Assistance Program because it will provide meaningful relief to Hawaii residents, especially seniors and those on fixed income, who are struggling with the high cost of prescription drugs.

The program described in House Bill 2834 is designed to lower the cost of such drugs by allowing the state to negotiate prices at discounted bulk rates from the nation's drug manufacturers.

But Menor said he is uncertain whether senators will approve another House bill that creates the so-called Care Plus program, which would provide $70 a day in long-term care payments paid via a $10 monthly tax on Hawaii workers.

Questions remain about House Bill 2834, making it likely it will be amended or killed in favor of the Senate version, Menor said.

The Senate Consumer Protection and the Health and Human Services committees heard both measures yesterday. While most who testified favored authorizing the state to negotiate bulk drug rates from pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers themselves said such a plan reduces incentives for development of new medicines.

Norman H. Suzuki of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the trade association of the country's top research-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, told senators fewer profits mean less incentive for companies to develop new medicines.

"While the contemplated legislation, if held to be legal, may possibly yield short-term benefits to some Hawaii residents, I suggest that the legislation will ultimately not benefit future generations," Suzuki said.

Even so, Marilyn Seely, director of the state Executive Office on Aging, said 29 states have enacted various forms of state pharmaceutical assistance programs for uninsured residents.

With one-fifth of Hawaii's population without drug coverage (228,000), the program is needed now, she said.

"We don't think that Hawaii should be made to wait much longer," Seely told lawmakers.

Seely also has proposed changes to the long-term health-care bill to address concerns raised about the new tax by the private health insurers, House and Senate Republican legislators and others.

For example, Seely suggested a working person's adjusted gross income, instead of age, be used to determine eligibility in the program. Anyone who earns above the federal poverty level would qualify, she said.

She added that using an adjusted gross income as eligibility to the program will allow retirees to participate. Some retirees had testified they were not included in the program because they no longer worked and therefore were not eligible.

Seely also wants to change the effective date of the program to 2006 from 2004, to allow the fund to collect money for two years before it gives out payments.

---

Legislature Directory

Legislature Bills & Hawaii Revised Statutes

Testimony by email: testimony@capitol.hawaii.gov
Include in the email the committee name; bill number;
date, time and place of the hearing; and number of copies
(as listed on the hearing notice.) For more information,
see http://www.hawaii.gov/lrb/par
or call 587-0478.