Hawaii Prepaid Health Care (PHC) Act (PHCA) is a state law (Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 393) enacted June 12, 1974 in the

State of Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

to improve health care coverage by employer mandate. The Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act set a minimum standards of health care benefits for workers. Upon its adoption in 1974, Hawaii became the first

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

to require minimum standards of health care benefits by law. Hawaii State Rep.

Yoshito Takamine Yoshito Takamine (June 24, 1924 – October 27, 2015) was an American politician and labor leader in Hawaii. Takamine, who was first elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives in 1958, when the state was still the Territory of Hawaii, served ...

, the longtime chairman of the House Labor Committee, was one of the law's chief architects and proponents. Among other things, Hawaii's law requires employers to offer coverage to employees working at least 20 hours per week for four or more consecutive weeks. In contrast, the federal

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presi ...

requires employers to offer coverage to employees working at least 30 hours per week effective Jan. 1, 2014. The two laws also establish different penalties for employers that do not offer coverage. Before the passage of the Prepaid Health Care Act, Hawaii had an uninsured rate of 30%. By 2013, Hawaii's uninsured rate of 6.7% was the second-lowest uninsured rate in the nation, trailing only Massachusetts, which had an uninsured rate of 3.7%.

References

Hawaii statutes 1975 in law Healthcare in Hawaii United States state health legislation 1975 in Hawaii {{Hawaii-stub