{"id":14781,"date":"2022-10-15T11:57:39","date_gmt":"2022-10-15T21:57:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/?p=14781"},"modified":"2022-10-15T11:57:52","modified_gmt":"2022-10-15T21:57:52","slug":"petition-aims-to-exempt-medical-costs-from-hawaiis-general-excise-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/2022\/10\/15\/petition-aims-to-exempt-medical-costs-from-hawaiis-general-excise-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"Petition Aims\u00a0To Exempt Medical Costs From Hawaii’s General Excise Tax"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

by Mark Coleman<\/em>

<\/strong>The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii has launched a petition<\/a> urging the Hawaii Legislature to exempt medical services from the state\u2019s general excise tax. The purpose is to make healthcare more affordable and help alleviate Hawaii\u2019s doctor shortage.

\u201cHawaii families have been struggling with the rising costs of goods for years, and healthcare is no different,\u201d said Keli\u2018i Akina<\/strong>, Institute president and CEO. \u201cWe have an ongoing doctor shortage, overstressed hospitals and delays in access to care. A GET exemption would cut costs for consumers and make Hawaii a more attractive place for doctors to practice.\u201d

Physicians themselves have cited<\/a> Hawaii\u2019s tax on medical services as a contributing factor in their decisions to leave the state. Hawaii is one of only four states<\/a> that taxes medical services, and doctors are unable to pass on the tax to Medicare patients, who make up about 18%<\/a> of residents who have health insurance.

A GET exemption has broad support among current and prospective future state lawmakers. Candidates ranging from Democratic Lt. Gov. Josh Green<\/a> to long-time Republican state representative Gene Ward<\/a> have expressed support. In addition, a bipartisan group of state senators introduced a bill<\/a> in 2021 that would\u2019ve exempted medical services from the GET, along with food and hygiene products.

According to a survey<\/a> conducted last year by Anthology Research, 79% of residents agreed that lower taxes would help residents afford the state\u2019s high cost of living, and 73% agreed that residents and businesses are overtaxed.

Akina said other factors contributing to Hawaii\u2019s unaffordability and healthcare shortages include the state\u2019s medical certificate-of-need laws, occupational licensing laws and \u201cscope of practice\u201d limits on nurses and pharmacists.

\u201cBut exempting medical services from the GET,\u201d he said, \u201cwould be a major first step toward providing long overdue and much-needed relief.\u201d

The petition to exempt medical services from the state GET will be available for signatures until January, when it will be submitted to members of the 2023 Legislature for consideration.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mark Coleman The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii has launched a petition urging the Hawaii Legislature to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[11,5],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1",724,483,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1",640,427,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1",640,427,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1",724,483,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1",724,483,true],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?resize=724%2C483&ssl=1",724,483,true],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?resize=724%2C483&ssl=1",724,483,true],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?resize=600%2C483&ssl=1",600,483,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?resize=600%2C483&ssl=1",600,483,true],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?resize=724%2C483&ssl=1",724,483,true],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?resize=724%2C483&ssl=1",724,483,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1",724,483,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?resize=540%2C285&ssl=1",540,285,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?resize=375%2C250&ssl=1",375,250,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Hawaii - Filipino<\/a> News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hfn-tax-refund.jpeg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14781"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14781"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14782,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14781\/revisions\/14782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}