HI HCR52

Requests the Auditor to conduct a "sunrise review" under Hawaii Revised Statutes section 23-51 assessing the social and financial effects of H.B. No. 687, H.D. 2, which proposes mandatory health insurance coverage for medically necessary transportation to the continental United States for qualifying patients.

Requires the Auditor to specifically evaluate the effects of amending the definition of "qualifying patient" to include only patients on medically-necessary extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or mechanical circulatory support (including percutaneous ventricular assist devices and intraaortic balloon pump therapies).

Directs the Auditor to submit findings, recommendations, and any proposed legislation to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2019.

Addresses the burden on Hawaii residents requiring life-saving medical treatment available only on the continental United States, noting that Medicaid currently covers such transportation but private health insurance typically does not.