Hawaii Lawmakers Consider LTCI Partnership Bill

Oren Chikamoto of Honolulu wrote on behalf of the American Council of Life Insurers, Washington, to praise the intent of the bill but also to suggest that some provisions in the original version conflicted with the provision in the federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2006 that let all states set up LTC partnership programs.

Originally, for example, S.B. 2309 stated that the purpose of a partnership program is to combine private LTCI funds and Medicaid funds.

“The purpose of the long-term care partnership program is not to combine funds,” Chikamoto wrote. “It is to encourage more people to purchase LTC insurance in return for allowing the total amount of benefits paid under a qualified individual LTC policy as an asset disregard, dollar for dollar, when applying for Medicaid.”

The Human Services Committee amended S.B. 2309 to reflect that advice and other suggestions Chikamoto made.

Eldon Wegner of the state Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs testified against S.B. 2309.

“Studies in other states which adopted this program found that it did not increase the numbers purchasing private long-term care insurance, thus not serving the intended purpose,” Wegner said. “Apparently, those who enrolled were persons who would have purchased private insurance regardless of the program.”