HB 1227 Summary

• Authorizes health care providers under Hawaii's state medicaid program to ask clients applying for or renewing medicaid: "Are you currently participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)?"

• Allows medicaid providers to collect and report aggregate SNAP participation data to the department and legislature, excluding individual names and subject to federal privacy standards under HIPAA.

• Addresses low SNAP participation rates in Hawaii; as of September 2016, approximately 169,432 medicaid-enrolled individuals likely eligible for SNAP were not participating despite Hawaii receiving over $500 million annually in SNAP funds.

• Projected outcome: increased SNAP participation could generate an estimated $247 million in additional federal funding for the state economy, with Moody's Analytics estimating $1.70 in local economic activity generated per dollar of SNAP benefits.

• Takes effect upon approval.