Survey: Hawaii residents say health care in ‘crisis’
By CLAUDINE SAN NICOLAS, Staff WriterArticle Photos
“In my case, it’s a major problem,” said Prince, who lost her health insurance coverage about three years ago when she quit her job as a paid caregiver to look after her 86-year-old mother in Haiku. “It’s like I live for today, and I just don’t know what’s going to happen to me if I should get sick.
“Only because I’m in pretty good health right now is it not a state of crisis,” Prince said.
Prince is among about half of Maui residents polled who believe health care and long-term care in Hawaii are in a state of crisis or have major problems. Statewide, about 57 percent held the same view.
The AARP Hawaii-commissioned survey interviewed 1,043 registered voters statewide, including 197 in Maui County. The poll was conducted from Dec. 20 to Jan. 20 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent.
According to AARP, the survey “offers the most recent evidence that Hawaii’s health care and long-term care systems are at the breaking point.”
While 84 percent of registered voters age 18 years and older in the study were insured, only 58 percent of those were either very or completely satisfied with their current health plan coverage.
Of those surveyed in Maui County, nearly eight in 10, or 79 percent, said their out-of-pocket medical expenses have increased in the past five years.
Other Maui County poll results include:
• Half of county residents with out-of-pocket monthly health care expenses say it is at least somewhat difficult for them to pay for their medical bills.
• As much as 45 percent of county residents surveyed said they needed to travel off-island to receive health care services not available on their island. (That was higher than the 40 percent of all Neighbor Island residents needing to travel off-island for medical care, but it was not as high as Kona on the Big Island where 49 percent said they required off-island travel.)
• Looking ahead to the next five years, nearly eight in 10 Maui residents, or 78 percent, said they are at least somewhat concerned about having to pay more for health care.
• Almost seven in 10, or 67 percent, said they are at least somewhat concerned about not having health care providers that are conveniently located.
• More than seven in 10 Maui County residents, or 71 percent, said they are worried about being able to receive long-term care services in the setting of their choice.
• More than six in 10, or 64 percent, of county residents support paying a small monthly premium to receive quality long-term services in the future.
Tony Fisher, the president of AARP Hawaii’s South Maui chapter, said he and many of the 100 or so members of his group are seriously concerned about the state of health care on the island and throughout the county.
“The fact that it’s not good, and it’s getting worse . . . people are concerned,” Fisher said.
Some of the issues of concern on Maui are access to health care, quality medical treatment and the rising costs of health insurance premiums, Fisher said.
Fisher will represent Maui’s AARP at today’s “Hawaii Caregivers Rally” at the state capitol on Oahu. The event coincides with Family Caregiver Awareness Day, which serves as a chance for the organization to celebrate family caregivers like Prince and promote AARP Hawaii’s health and long-term care legislative proposals.
Prince said she supports efforts by AARP to lobby for legislation that could help her and her family.
“The government needs to back off and stop taxing the elderly, and instead, give them incentives so that they can pay for their own caregivers and stay at home instead of in institutions,” she said.
AARP Hawaii’s legislative priorities heading into the second half of this year’s legislative session are:
• Senate Bill 3255, SD1. It establishes a long-term commission to research the resources necessary to meet state long-term care public policy goals and recommend a program and funding mechanism that provide the services. It appropriates $250,000 for the commission, which would expire Dec. 1, 2010.
• Senate Bill 2830 SD1, House Bill 2196 HD2. Introduced by the Joint Legislative Committee on Family Caregiving, the omnibus bill expands the committee’s mandate to include aging-in-place issues and requires an aging and disability resource center to report back to the committee. And, it allows the Kupuna Care program to include overnight, weekend and emergency respite services and provides grants to caregivers for home modification.
• Senate Bill 2047 SD2. It establishes an income tax credit for taxpayers who make modifications to their home to increase accessibility for individuals with disabilities or special needs.
Fisher said he believes the AARP-supported legislation has a good chance of becoming law. He cited a 2006 AARP project that resulted in legislation to make crosswalks safer for pedestrians statewide and provided funds to recalibrate crosswalk signals.
Bruce Bottorff, an associate state director for AARP Hawaii, said he’s also confident the legislative proposals will be approved. He said the AARP stands ready to lobby continuously for better health care around the state.
“We’re in this for the long haul,” Bottorff said. “We will not stop working on this issue because it’s very important to the people of Hawaii.”
A full copy of the 2008 Hawaii Health and Long-term Care Survey can be found at www.aarp.org/hiltc beginning at 9 a.m. today.
AARP’s research division, Knowledge Management, oversaw the survey. FGI Research staff conducted telephone survey interviews.
• Claudine San Nicolas can be reached at claudine@mauinews.com.
