FAQs Provide Additional Guidance on Essential Health Benefits under Health Reform

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (?Ç£HHS?Ç¥) released a set of FAQs providing additional guidance on HHS?ÇÖs approach for defining ?Ç£essential health benefits?Ç¥ under the Affordable Care Act. In December 2011, an HHS bulletin explained that essential health benefits would be defined by a benchmark plan selected by each state, which could be modified so long as the value of coverage is not reduced. The new FAQs supplement that December bulletin by addressing, among other issues, updates to benefits in benchmark plans, the timing for selecting a benchmark plan, and state supplementation of benchmark plans. The FAQs can be found here.