Health plan faces legal challenge

Lawyers for Equal Justice is considering legal action to delay implementation Tuesday of a new state health plan key legislators say “could be a death sentence” for some residents.

Because of the state's revenue shortage, the state Department of Human Services is transferring about 7,500 non-citizens from comprehensive medical assistance to a “Basic Health Hawaiʻi” plan with limited benefits. Pregnant women and children are excluded.

“It's a good plan for healthy people,” said Noda Lojkar, consul general of the government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

The Marshallese government, affected residents and organizations such as the American Cancer Society Hawaii Pacific Inc. are protesting the plan because life-sustaining dialysis and chemotherapy services are not covered.