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USA Today: Sebelius: In defense of health care law's 'essentials'
Sebelius: In defense of health care law's 'essentials'
By Kathleen Sebelius
Last month, my department took an important step toward making that marketplace a reality by releasing a proposed approach to "essential health benefits," the basic standard of coverage that all plans in this marketplace will have to offer.
Comprehensive coverage
This approach will ensure that all plans offered in this marketplace are comprehensive, without the gaps in coverage that too many consumers have faced. Some plans didn't even cover basic preventive care. Others had so many holes that they provided almost no security if you got really sick. For example, 62% of individual market plans do not cover maternity coverage, 18% do not cover mental health services, and 9% do not cover prescription drugs today.
That's why essential health benefits are so important. To ensure that no plans offered to small business or individuals have these kinds of gaps, the new health care law outlines 10 areas of basic coverage, prescription drugs, pediatric care and hospital services, which are now offered in good employer-based plans around the country.
For consumers, this means you won't have to read every line of the fine print to know that the plan you buy will protect you if you get sick. And by establishing a basic standard for coverage, and outlawing discrimination of pre-existing health conditions, insurance companies will have to compete on things like price and customer service.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-01-03/sebelius-hhs-health-care-benefits/52358618/1
By Kathleen Sebelius
Last month, my department took an important step toward making that marketplace a reality by releasing a proposed approach to "essential health benefits," the basic standard of coverage that all plans in this marketplace will have to offer.
Comprehensive coverage
This approach will ensure that all plans offered in this marketplace are comprehensive, without the gaps in coverage that too many consumers have faced. Some plans didn't even cover basic preventive care. Others had so many holes that they provided almost no security if you got really sick. For example, 62% of individual market plans do not cover maternity coverage, 18% do not cover mental health services, and 9% do not cover prescription drugs today.
That's why essential health benefits are so important. To ensure that no plans offered to small business or individuals have these kinds of gaps, the new health care law outlines 10 areas of basic coverage, prescription drugs, pediatric care and hospital services, which are now offered in good employer-based plans around the country.
For consumers, this means you won't have to read every line of the fine print to know that the plan you buy will protect you if you get sick. And by establishing a basic standard for coverage, and outlawing discrimination of pre-existing health conditions, insurance companies will have to compete on things like price and customer service.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-01-03/sebelius-hhs-health-care-benefits/52358618/1