The legislature finds that Hawaii’s Hansen’s disease victims have in many ways symbolized the plight of those afflicted with this disease throughout the world. Their sufferings and social deprivations helped eventually to bring the story of the disease and an understanding of its health ravages to people everywhere. Those patients who settled in Kalaupapa remain a living memorial to a long history of tragic separation, readjustment, and endurance.

It is the policy of the State that the patient residents of Kalaupapa shall be accorded adequate health care and other services for the remainder of their lives. Furthermore, it is the policy of the State that any patient resident of Kalaupapa desiring to remain at the facility shall be permitted to do so for as long as that patient may choose, regardless of whether or not the patient has been successfully treated. A patient resident of Kalaupapa desiring to take leave may do so without loss of financial allowance or coverage of health care costs given those who remain at Kalaupapa.