The title of this post is taken from a New York Times article talking about the variations by state in the essential health benefits that will be offered within the new health insurance exchanges beginning in 2014. The point of the article is that various interest groups lobby to get their service included in the mandated coverage, things like podiatric care, chiropractic, acupuncture, dental care, weight loss surgery, infertility treatment, etc. Many people may not realize that the states have considerable latitude in designing the basic benefits package that may exceed the essential benefits and as a result what is and is not covered will vary by state.
What caught my eye is not the article so much as the comments posted by readers:
Dental care should definitely be in the mix.
Dentition affects your health, particularly those with heart disease.
Other comments lobbied for other services to expand coverage, but few made the connection between what is covered and the cost of care or for that matter, the illusive quest for “affordable.”
So far twenty-two states will let the federal government run their exchanges, a few will share the responsibility and some will run their own exchanges and as we see here, the services covered by the plans will vary by state.
Add in all the factors that add to the cost of insurance and I’d say we are off to a stellar start reforming health care. In the process we have completely ignored the concept of insurance.
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