A key element in any comprehensive health reform plan is defining what health
insurance is and the amount of insurance coverage people will have. There are
two components to that coverage: the types of services covered (e.g., physician
care, hospitalization, prescription drugs, etc.), and the cost sharing required
of enrollees (e.g., the annual deductible, the copayments or coinsurance, and
the maximum out-of-pocket costs for a year).
The overall approach to
reform drives the kinds of policy decisions that must be made concerning the
level of coverage people will have. This brief explains the ways in which
coverage might be defined under a health reform plan, and some of the policy
issues raised by those determinations.
It is part of a series of briefs
providing an overview of key issues and concepts related to health reform.
Brief (.pdf)
