July 9, 2012 -- The State of Oregon is seeking public comments on the Essential Health Benefits (EHB) Workgroup’s final recommendation. Beginning in 2014, the Federal Affordable Care Act requires health plans sold in the individual and small group markets to offer a comprehensive package of items and services, known as “essential health benefits.” The EHB Workgroup, appointed by Governor Kitzhaber, was charged with recommending an EHB benchmark plan from one of ten choices outlined by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The Workgroup recently finalized their recommendation that will be presented to the Oregon Health Policy Board and the Oregon Health Insurance Exchange Board for review.
For more information, view the formal request for public comment along with the Workgroup’s final recommendation letter and EHB plan illustration.
Public comments will be accepted through July 30, 2012 and should be sent to [email protected].
Using public deliberation as a component of EHB development is wholly consistent with the concept of “accountability for reasonableness” as described in Setting Limits Fairly (Daniels and Sabin, 2008) and the literature on “voice” as described in Exit, Voice and Loyalty (Hirschman, 1970). In a pluralistic society such as the United States, there are often decisions that cannot be answered by science or logic, where different perspectives are competing. When deeply held values point to different policy decisions, the way in which these decisions are made becomes an ethical imperative. Daniels and Sabin’s contention is that if the decision process is fair and transparent, the subsequent results are more likely to be ethically justifiable and accepted as legitimate and fair. Although some may be unhappy with the results, they should nonetheless be satisfied that the process for reaching those results was reasonable, participatory, and transparent.
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