title: Implementing the Affordable Care Act: choosing an essential health benefits benchmark plan.
abstract: To improve the adequacy of private health insurance, the Affordable Care Act requires insurers to cover a minimum set of medical benefits, known as "essential health benefits." In implementing this requirement, states were asked to select a "benchmark plan" to serve as a reference point. This issue brief examines state action to select an essential health benefits benchmark plan and finds that 24 states and the District of Columbia selected a plan. All but five states will have a small-group plan as their benchmark. Each state, whether or not it made a benchmark selection, will have a set of essential health benefits that reflects local, employer-based health insurance coverage currently sold in the state. States adopted a variety of approaches to selecting a benchmark, including intergov­ernmental collaboration, stakeholder engagement, and research on benchmark options.
authors.affiliation: Center on Health Insurance Reforms, Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, USA. sc732@georgetown.edu
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Corlette
authors.forename: Kevin W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Lucia
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Levin
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D007342:Insurance Benefits / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D017057:Medically Uninsured / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States