Institute of Medicine

“The committee concludes that the EHB (Essential Health Benefits) should be defined as a package that will fall under a predefined cost target rather than building a package and then finding out what it would cost.” (Section 4, page 7)

http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13234&page=85

Comment: 

By Don McCanne, MD

When the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its recommendations on the method for determining essential health benefits for the private plans to be offered in the state insurance exchanges called for in the Accountable Care Act, advocates of comprehensive health care for everyone were quite disappointed, to say the least. When looking through this 300 page report for an explanation as to why they recommended such intolerably skimpy benefits, the one sentence above stands out.

By predefining a specific cost target and then defining a benefit package to fit those costs, the committee explicitly has recommended that the new standard for health insurance in America should be a defined contribution rather than a defined benefit.

This concept, which is permeating our public and private social programs, has been one of the most destructive to our unifying stance of social solidarity. Many have seen their pensions based on defined benefits being converted into individual plans in which contributions are defined but benefits are no longer guaranteed, being dependent on the variables of investment returns and, more importantly, the gamble that you won’t outlive your personal account. (Of course, the annuity industry is quite willing to take a major portion of your account in exchange for guaranteeing you less generous payments for the remainder of your life.)

The privatization health care schemes, such as the proposed voucher program for Medicare, also would provide a defined contribution to be used to purchase a skimpier, ill-defined benefit package, unless the individual contributes more personal funds that many simply do not have.

The IOM recommendation for the exchange plans does the same. The standard defined contribution would be subsidies provided toward the price of a skimpy plan with inadequate benefits. If the individual wants a plan with adequate defined benefits, an additional personal contribution to the premium would be required to buy up to a better plan, again with the questionable assumption that the person has the funds.

The media keep reporting that participants in Occupy Wall Street and similar demonstrations throughout the nation don’t seem to know what they want. That is blatantly untrue. They want our economy to work not only for the top 1 percent, but for the other 99 percent of us as well. Taking away our defined benefits and substituting an inadequate contribution is precisely the the type of activity that has left middle-income Americans behind.

Let’s take a stand. Let’s immediately let President Obama and Secretary Sebelius know that we won’t tolerate this injustice. Then let’s expand the protests into a national movement that returns America to the people. We may have to have a dialogue with the Tea Party people as to just what that means. It doesn’t mean abandoning government, but rather it means taking control of our government so it works for the benefit of all of us – a defined benefit, if you’ll permit.

Essential Health Benefits: Balancing Coverage and Costs (2011)

Institute of Medicine

“The committee concludes that the EHB (Essential Health Benefits) should be defined as a package that will fall under a predefined cost target rather than building a package and then finding out what it would cost.” (Section 4, page 7)

http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13234&page=85

When the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its recommendations on the method for determining essential health benefits for the private plans to be offered in the state insurance exchanges called for in the Accountable Care Act, advocates of comprehensive health care for everyone were quite disappointed, to say the least. When looking through this 300 page report for an explanation as to why they recommended such intolerably skimpy benefits, the one sentence above stands out.

By predefining a specific cost target and then defining a benefit package to fit those costs, the committee explicitly has recommended that the new standard for health insurance in America should be a defined contribution rather than a defined benefit.

This concept, which is permeating our public and private social programs, has been one of the most destructive to our unifying stance of social solidarity. Many have seen their pensions based on defined benefits being converted into individual plans in which contributions are defined but benefits are no longer guaranteed, being dependent on the variables of investment returns and, more importantly, the gamble that you won’t outlive your personal account. (Of course, the annuity industry is quite willing to take a major portion of your account in exchange for guaranteeing you less generous payments for the remainder of your life.)

The privatization health care schemes, such as the proposed voucher program for Medicare, also would provide a defined contribution to be used to purchase a skimpier, ill-defined benefit package, unless the individual contributes more personal funds that many simply do not have.

The IOM recommendation for the exchange plans does the same. The standard defined contribution would be subsidies provided toward the price of a skimpy plan with inadequate benefits. If the individual wants a plan with adequate defined benefits, an additional personal contribution to the premium would be required to buy up to a better plan, again with the questionable assumption that the person has the funds.

The media keep reporting that participants in Occupy Wall Street and similar demonstrations throughout the nation don’t seem to know what they want. That is blatantly untrue. They want our economy to work not only for the top 1 percent, but for the other 99 percent of us as well. Taking away our defined benefits and substituting an inadequate contribution is precisely the the type of activity that has left middle-income Americans behind.

Let’s take a stand. Let’s immediately let President Obama and Secretary Sebelius know that we won’t tolerate this injustice. Then let’s expand the protests into a national movement that returns America to the people. We may have to have a dialogue with the Tea Party people as to just what that means. It doesn’t mean abandoning government, but rather it means taking control of our government so it works for the benefit of all of us – a defined benefit, if you’ll permit.