Non-citizens get new, cheaper medical program

The Hawaii Department of Human Services will launch a new health insurance program for low-income non-citizens on Sept. 1 called Basic Health Hawaii. The initiative is to provide medical care to Hawaii’s “gap group” of adults who legally live in Hawaii but are not eligible for federal medical assistance programs, including many from Pacific island nations,

State Department of Human Services officials said July 28 the new program should save the state $15 million per year because about 7,500 non-citizens will transfer to the new program from the state’s QUEST programs, which provide more comprehensive medical benefits, including vision, home health, hospice care, podiatry and prosthetics.

The new program is limited largely to primary care. It caps some benefits and requires non-citizens, who will be automatically transferred to the new program on Sept. 1, to pay more of the costs themselves.

Basic Health Hawaii limits participants 12 outpatient doctor visits, 10 days’ stay in a hospital, six mental health visits and three procedures per year, in addition to emergency medical and dental care. The program also will pay for diabetes supplies and contraceptive care and up to five generic drug prescriptions a month. Pregnant women are not eligible for Basic Health Hawaii; they are eligible for benefits from the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009.

The program will cover primarily non-citizens from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of Palau. Under the Compacts of Free Association residents of these Pacific island nations are allowed to travel freely, reside, work and attend school in the U.S. without time limits.

“Because of Hawaii’s unprecedented budget shortfall as a result of the global economic downturn, the state can no longer afford to provide free and comprehensive health-care benefits for adult non-citizens, unless we receive a substantial funding boost from the federal government,” said Lillian Koller, director of the state Department of Human Services.

According to DHS, Hawaii spends more than $90 million annually on health care, education and other services for people in Hawaii from Compact of Free Association countries. The federal government provides less than $11 million to the state to partially cover the costs. For more information, call the state's Med-QUEST division customer service branch at (808) 692-8069 or visit www.med-quest.us.