COM 0932.000 2006-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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nrsiaya Page 3 of 16 healthcare the most, to the taxpayers; (2) The lack of a central electronic healthcare database; and (3) Inordinately high-cost prescription drugs. For more than a quarter of a century, Hawaii was far ahead of most other states and often called itself "the health state" because of the 1974 Prepaid Healthcare Act (PHCA). In 1994 Hawaii had a low uninsured population of between two and five per cent. But, the crisis in healthcare on the United States continent began coming to Hawaii. Today, more than one hundred thousand Hawaii residents are without any healthcare insurance coverage. More than twelve thousand of the uninsured are children. Many other Hawaii residents are underinsured, unable to use their insurance properly or even at all, because of increasingly expensive deductibles and out-of-pocket co- payments for outpatient visits, diagnostic tests, and prescription drugs, among other factors. The annual high increase in premium costs translates into increased employer costs. Under PHCA, private-sector employers are required to pay health insurance premiums equal to the amount of the premium that exceeds the cap on employee contributions of one and half per cent of a full-time employee's pay. Public employers generally pay even more because of their exemption from PHCA and must negotiate with their employees for employer-provided family healthcare insurance. PHCA does not require employers to provide health insurance coverage for employees working less than twenty hours per week. Increasing health insurance costs prompted some employers to hire individuals to work only part-time, or less than twenty hours per http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2007/Bills/HB1598_.htin 1/9/2008