Hawaii
Schatz, Tokuda seek higher payments for physicians – West Hawaii Today
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, alongside Hawaii’s congressional delegation, on Thursday introduced legislation seeking higher Medicare reimbursements for the state’s health care providers.
The Protecting Access To Care in Hawaii Act — or PATCH Act — seeks a 24% increase, which would bring it in line with what Alaska gets, according to Schatz. He said it is key to helping the state retain and recruit doctors for a growing number of seniors.
The timing is more urgent than ever, he added, as Hawaii faces an increasingly acute provider shortage, especially on neighbor islands.
“As more people reach Medicare age in Hawaii, we are seeing fewer health care providers because of the rising operating and living costs in our state,” said Schatz. “Our bill would help fix that, boosting Medicare payments to providers and protecting health care access for the 300,000 seniors in Hawaii that rely on Medicare.”
It is also a matter of fairness, according to Schatz.
Currently, Medicare physician payments per beneficiary in Hawaii are the lowest in the U.S, and reimbursement rates do not factor in Hawaii’s higher health care operating costs due to its geographic isolation.
The bill would revise a “work geographic index” to reflect those higher costs, and is basically seeking the same level of reimbursements as Alaska.
“In lots of other areas of federal reimbursement, there’s a recognition that Hawaii and Alaska are in a category of their own as it relates to costs that would better reflect our reality,” said Schatz.
U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, who introduced the companion House bill, said Hawaii consistently ranks among the healthiest states in the U.S., yet remains one of the worst states in which to practice medicine because of lower compensation and higher operating costs.
“Especially on our Neighbor Islands, this is exacerbating the access to the health care crisis that exists, often making it difficult to recruit and retain physicians and to get patients the timely quality care they need,” Tokuda said in a statement. “My legislation would ensure Medicare reimbursements more accurately reflect the real cost to provide care in Hawaii so that we can keep more local doctors and attract new physicians to the state.”
U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono said the low physician reimbursements in Hawaii add another obstacle to accessing and providing health care.
“I’m proud to support this legislation to help ensure that our physicians — and other health professionals — are being fairly compensated, while also expanding access to health care across the state,” she said.
U.S. Rep. Ed Case said medical practitioners have struggled for years to provide quality care while dealing with the mounting cost of doing business in Hawaii.
“This bill will help our health care providers focus on providing care through Medicare and spend less time worrying about inadequate reimbursement,” he said.
Earlier this year, Sens. Schatz and Hirono also introduced a bill alongside their Alaska colleagues, seeking higher Medicare reimbursements for outpatient care from hospitals, including emergency room visits, for enrolled seniors in the two states.
In 2021, they also sought to boost Medicare reimbursements for nursing homes in Hawaii and Alaska through the bipartisan Equitable Payments for Nursing Facilities Act.
Those bills are still pending.
Hawaii has a shortage of about 800 full-time physicians, according to the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine.
Other efforts to address the doctor shortage include an educational loan reimbursement program for health care workers that commit to two years of service in Hawaii. The state Legislature also passed a bill this year exempting private health care providers from general excise taxes for services to patients with Medicaid, Medicare and TRICARE.
“Everything costs more in Hawaii,” said Schatz, “and so the federal reimbursement has to reflect that, and that should go for nursing home care and Medicare services in clinics. We just have to be on an equal footing. Otherwise, we will have Medicare but really Medicare in name only because Medicare without providers is really nothing.”
Hawaii
Tourist accused of hurling rock at endangered Hawaiian monk seal was trying to protect sea turtles, lawyer says
The defense attorney for a tourist from Washington state accused of hurling a coconut-sized rock at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal says his client was trying to protect sea turtles and has since been physically assaulted, threatened and doxed.
Igor Lytvynchuk, 38, of Covington, Washington, is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Honolulu Wednesday on charges of harassing and attempting to harass a protected animal.
Earlier this month, a witness recorded what prosecutors say was a video of him throwing the rock at a Hawaiian monk seal at a Maui beach. He later made arrangements to surrender in the Seattle area as special agents with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were seeking to arrest him, prosecutors said.
The video drew widespread condemnation and demands for prosecution in Hawaii, including from Maui’s mayor. Scientists identified the seal as an adult male known as “R404,” NOAA said.
According to prosecutors, a state Department of Land and Natural Resources officer investigated a report of Hawaiian monk seal harassment in Lahaina, the community that was largely destroyed by a deadly wildfire in 2023. A witness showed the officer video of the seal swimming in shallow water while a man watched from shore.
The video showed Lytvynchuk throwing the rock, directly at the seal, narrowly missing its head, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint.
Maui resident Kaylee Schnitzer, 18, told HawaiiNewsNow she witnessed the incident while taking photos nearby.
“What he was picking up was like a rock the size of a coconut,” Schnitzer said. “It wasn’t no small rock. It was the size of a coconut. And he threw it right, directly aiming towards the monk seal’s head.”
When a witness confronted Lytvynchuk, he said “he did not care and was ‘rich’ enough to pay any fines,” according to the complaint.
Afterward, a man “brutally assaulted” Lytvynchuk, his defense attorney Myles Breiner told The Associated Press. Lytvynchuk declined to file a police report on the assault, the attorney said.
Breiner explained his client had been to Hawaii previously and was familiar with sea turtles, but not Hawaiian monk seals. Lytvynchuk is a fisherman and thought the seal was an aggressive sea lion, the lawyer said.
“So his response was not to hurt this monk seal, but to get it away from the turtles,” Breiner said.
The incident shows NOAA must do more to educate the public about protecting Hawaiian monk seals, Hawaii’s U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Since the video surfaced, Lytvynchuk has faced death threats and doxing, including receiving a package at his home containing what appeared to be feces, Breiner said.
He said his client is being treated unfairly because he’s a white outsider. “The vast majority of attacks on monk seal and turtle are by locals,” he said.
Lytvynchuk is charged with violations of the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Hawaiian monk seals are a critically endangered species. Only 1,600 remain in the wild.
“The unique and precious wildlife of the Hawaiian Islands are renowned symbols of Hawaii’s special place in the world and its incredible biodiversity,” U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson said in a statement. “We are committed to protecting our vulnerable wild species, in particular, endangered Hawaiian monk seals.”
If convicted, he faces up to one year in prison for each charge. He also faces a fine of up to $50,000 under the Endangered Species Act and a fine of up to $20,000 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
In 2016, a man was seen on video appearing to beat a pregnant Hawaiian monk seal in shallow water.
Hawaii
‘Tesla Road Rage Driver’ sentenced to seven years in prison after attacking mother and daughter in Hawaii
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A man dubbed the “Tesla Road Rage Driver” was sentenced to seven years in prison in connection with a violent road rage attack in Hawaii.
Nathaniel Radimak was sentenced Thursday in connection with a 2025 attack involving a mother and her 18-year-old daughter in Honolulu.
Radimak, who has prior convictions tied to road rage attacks against motorists, acknowledged his actions during sentencing.
“I take accountability. I just feel bad about it,” Radimak said, according to Hawaii News Now. “It shouldn’t have happened, but I really need a certain kind of treatment that is being prolonged and farther away. It’s not helping me, but I take accountability.”
TESLA ROAD-RAGE DRIVER ALLEGEDLY ASSAULTS TEEN, MOM IN HAWAII MONTHS AFTER PRISON RELEASE
Nathaniel Walter Radimak, 39, was convicted of attacking several female drivers on Southern California roads. (Fox News)
Radimak was charged with one count of unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle and two counts of third-degree assault. He pleaded no contest earlier this year.
Judge Clarissa Malinao said during sentencing that Radimak had failed to seek necessary medical care and continued using illegal substances while on parole for previous convictions.
“His history of violence is propensity for violence, and defendant’s voluntary intoxication and discontinuation of medication increase the risk of his dangerousness to self and to the public,” Malinao said. “These findings also demonstrate and reinforce that the defendant is indeed a danger to the safety of the public.”
WATCH: ROAD RAGE SUSPECT DRAGS MOM OUT OF VEHICLE, BODY-SLAMS HER ON PAVEMENT
Nathaniel Walter Radimak is identified by police as a driver involved in road rage incidents while driving a Tesla in California. (California Highway Patrol)
Radimak, 39, was charged after allegedly assaulting an 18-year-old woman and her 35-year-old mother during an incident on May 7, 2025, according to the Honolulu Police Department.
Police said the teen was parking downtown when she saw a gray Tesla drive past her.
The two allegedly exchanged words before Radimak got out of the vehicle and assaulted both victims before fleeing the scene, police said. Authorities said he was driving a 2022 gray Tesla with Oregon license plates.
MOTORIST ARRESTED AFTER ALLEGEDLY TRYING TO RUN DRIVER OF TESLA OFF THE ROAD AT HIGH SPEEDS: REPORT
Honolulu police arrested Nathaniel Radimak following a reported road rage assault involving a mother and daughter.
Radimak was arrested by Honolulu police the following day.
The arrest came just months after Radimak was released from prison after serving less than a year of a five-year sentence tied to a series of violent road rage attacks in Southern California.
He was sentenced in 2023 after pleading guilty to assault, vandalism, elder abuse and making criminal threats.
Fox News Digital previously reported that Radimak was known for driving a Tesla and using a pipe to attack the vehicles of his victims, including multiple women.
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The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation previously said Radimak received 424 days of credit for time served while awaiting sentencing in the earlier case.
Fox News Digital’s Pilar Arias and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
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