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| Consider costs when determining essential health benefits: report |
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Multithumb found errors on this page: There was a problem loading image C:\wamp\www\images/stories/08_costs.jpg  Cost should be considered when deciding what health benefits must be provided by insurance plans under the new U.S. health care law, says a report released Thursday by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. It also said the cost of any new benefits should be "offset by savings" in other areas of the healthcare system, The New York Times reported. When defining "essential health benefits," the federal government should attempt to ensure that the average premium doesn't exceed benchmarks set by the health and human services secretary. The report by an 18-member panel does not suggest specific services that should be covered. Instead, it recommends how the health and human services secretary should define the minimum benefits, The Times reported. "Costs must be taken into account," the panel said. "Unless we are able to balance the cost with the breadth of benefits, we may never achieve the health care coverage envisioned in the Affordable Care Act. If the benefits are not affordable, fewer individuals will buy insurance. And if health care spending continues to rise so rapidly, the benefits will begin to erode." (Source: doctorslounge)   Socialize this Subscribe to our RSS feed to stay in touch and receive all of TT updates right in your feed reader
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