Under state law, Kaua’i residents with medical insurance coverage through troubled Hawai’i HealthCare Alliance can obtain alternative coverage if they can get written proof they’ve held medical insurance for 18 consecutive months? And the state Department of Commerce and Consumer
Under state law, Kaua’i residents with medical insurance coverage through troubled Hawai’i HealthCare Alliance can obtain alternative coverage if they can get written proof they’ve held medical insurance for 18 consecutive months?
And the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Insurance Division, under insurance commissioner Wayne Metcalf, is working to make sure those that qualify do get other coverage, he said.
HHCA is the subject of a state investigation for allegedly offering unauthorized health insurance and for being insolvent.
One of the first things the state did after seizing HHCA in mid-October was to send letters to policyholders (the 157 policyholders on Kaua’i represent 13.8 percent of all 1,130 statewide), informing them of the alternative coverage provisions, Metcalf said.
If they can show they have been covered for 18 consecutive months and get certificate of credible coverage from their previous carrier (HHCA or any others), then another carrier cannot deny coverage to the former HHCA customers, Metcalf said.
If some policyholders paid in advance for HHCA coverage (and some paid up to one year in advance, Metcalf said), they’ll have to wait and see if the state is successful in its quest to liquidate HHCA’s assets in order to pay back creditors. The latter include HHCA policyholders and healthcare providers on Kaua’i and elsewhere, Metcalf said.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
