Suit seeks restored health benefits for Pacific migrants

A class-action federal lawsuit was filed yesterday in an attempt to restore health benefits to Sound and about 7,500 Pacific island migrants in Hawaiʻi.

Basic Health Hawaii, which went into effect in July, is a reduced benefits package created mostly for Compact of Free Association migrants. Residents of the Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Marshall Islands and Palau can travel freely in the U.S. due to a 1986 federal agreement. In turn, the island nations gave the U.S. strategic military rights.

The state had initial plans for bigger cuts to benefits, including not covering lifesaving dialysis and chemotherapy treatments. A federal lawsuit from the migrant community, of which Sound was a main plaintiff, forced the state back to the drawing board.

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on the state’s previous plan. Chemotherapy is now provided as part of the drug benefits in the current plan, while dialysis will be covered as a federally funded emergency service.

The crux of the new lawsuit’s argument questions the constitutionality of providing inferior benefits due to immigrant status and duration of U.S. residency. The suit also alleges a violation of the American with Disabilities Act in that it forces migrants with disabilities to seek care in a hospital setting. It was filed by Lawyers for Equal Justice and firms Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing and Bronster Hoshibata.

“The state of Hawaiʻi may not discriminate on the basis of national origin,” said Margery Bronster, a partner with Bronster Hoshibata and former state attorney general. “Once the U.S. government allowed COFA residents free access to the U.S., no state could limit those rights.”