ACS CAN joined dozens of consumer, labor and patient-centered organizations to call on the Secretary of Health and Human Services to designate funding for an employer survey that could help determine the essential benefits package that will be created under the Affordable Care Act. The act calls on the Secretary of Labor to survey businesses across the country to determine the average level of benefits provided. But Congress did not designate funds for the survey, and the lack of data could stall the development of the first-ever definition of a standard of care. The full text of the letter follows:
May 18, 2010
Ms. Nancy Ann DeParle, Director
Office of Health Reform
The White House
Washington, D.C.
Dear Ms. DeParle:
One of the many advances made in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is the establishment of an essential benefits package. For the first time there will be a clear definition of what constitutes essential coverage, which is vital both to improving the level of coverage and care, to empowering consumers and to creating a more constructively competitive insurance market. However, the data necessary to define the package may not be forthcoming unless the survey of employer-sponsored coverage mandated by the PPACA is funded and conducted in a timely and rigorous manner.
Although the Secretary of Health and Human Services is charged with developing the essential benefits package, a critical piece of the underlying evidence for the package rests with the Secretary of Labor. Under Section 1302, the Secretary of Labor is charged with conducting “a survey of employer-sponsored coverage to determine the benefits typically covered by employers, including multi-employer plans, and provide a report on such survey to the Secretary.” The information collected from such a survey could have a profound impact on the nature and extent of the initial essential benefit package and provide the crucial evidence to defend the difficult decisions that the Secretary of Health and Human Services will need to make.
Unfortunately, Congress did not appropriate funds to the Department of Labor for this critical function. Although the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Employee Benefit Security Administration have extensive knowledge and experience with employer sponsored health coverage, the data currently available to them do not provide the kind of comprehensive picture of benefits that is necessary to properly inform the Secretary of Health and Human Services’ decisions. Identifying the breadth, scope, and detail of benefits offered in “typical” employer-sponsored plans will require a unique survey to supplement and complement existing data.
If you have any further questions, please contact Stephen Finan at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (202 661-5780 or [email protected]). (We are sending copies to Secretaries Sebelius and Solis).
Sincerely,
Organizations
AARP
ACCSES
AFL-CIO
AFSCME
American Association on Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities
American Association of People with Disabilities
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
American Foundation for the Blind
American Heart Association
American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association
American Music Therapy Association
American Network of Community Options and Resources
APSE
American Therapeutic Recreation Association
Association of University Centers on Disabilities
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Brain Injury Association of America
Easter Seals
Epilepsy Foundation
Family Voices
Health Access California
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Colorado Consumer Health Initiative
Congress of California Seniors
Consumer Watchdog
Consumers for Affordable Health Care Foundation
Disabilities Rights and Education Fund
Families USA
Having Our Say
Health Care for All (Mass.)
Mental Health America
National Alliance on Mental Illness
National Association for the Advancement of Orthotics and Prosthetics
National Association of State Head Injury Administrators
National Association of Social Workers
National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare
National Council of Jewish Women
National Partnership for Women and Families
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
National Spinal Cord Injury Association
National Women’s Law Center
SEIU
The ARC of the United States
Treatment Access Expansion Project
United Cerebral Palsy
United Spinal Association
Individuals
Timothy Jost, Professor
Washington and Lee University School of Law
Consumer Representative to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners
Wendell Potter
Center for Media and Democracy
Consumer Representative to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners
For More Information, Contact:
Steven Weiss or Alissa Havens
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
Phone: 202-661-5711 or 202-661-5772
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]