Lawsuit: State discriminates in care for Micronesians

Federal class action suit alleges new Hawaiʻi healthcare plan illegally discriminates against certain legal residents from three South Pacific nations by drastically reducing their benefits, based on nationality.

New cuts to medical benefits for low-income residents based on nationality amount to discrimination, according to a federal class action lawsuit filed Monday against the state of Hawaiʻi on behalf of disabled Micronesians.

Roughly 7,500 Micronesians live in Hawaiʻi as legal residents and depend on the Hawaiʻi Department of Human Services for medical benefits. Significant changes to their health-care plan went into effect in July—including limiting coverage to 12 doctors’ visits per year and four prescription medications.

“We’ve very sensitive and empathetic to the financial situation we all find ourselves in—our state and country. We just don’t think that denying critical healthcare to the most marginalized people in our society is a good way to start solving these problems,” said Victor Geminiani, executive director for the nonprofit Lawyers for Equal Justice, which filed the suit along with firms Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing and Bronster Hoshibata.