CMS: Essential Health Benefits Benchmark Picks Due Sept. 30

HHS wants states to use the same benchmark plans for the individual and small group markets.

HHS officials want to include the preventive care benefits already required by PPACA and the new federal mental health parity benefits in the EHB package.

The EHB package requirement will not apply to self-insured group health plans, large group plans, or grandfathered group plans.

PPACA itself requires EHB packages to include some benefits not typically included in today’s health insurance plans, such as pediatric dental services and pediatric vision testing services.

“For pediatric oral care, we are considering proposing that the state would supplement the benchmark plan with benefits from either the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) dental plan with the largest national enrollment or the state’s separate Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP),” officials say. “For pediatric vision care, we are considering proposing that the state would supplement the benchmark plan with the benefits covered in the FEDVIP vision plan with the highest enrollment.”