{"id":3938,"date":"2013-01-14T16:13:17","date_gmt":"2013-01-14T21:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/?p=3938"},"modified":"2013-01-15T07:40:57","modified_gmt":"2013-01-15T12:40:57","slug":"affordable-care-act-essential-health-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/2013\/01\/affordable-care-act-essential-health-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Affordable Care Act &#038; Essential Health Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/bigstock-Health-Care-Reform-Crossword-7447596.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3941\" title=\"health care reform crossword\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/bigstock-Health-Care-Reform-Crossword-7447596-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \><\/a>Today, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\" target=\"_blank\">health insurance<\/a> covers a wide range of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/Documents\/2012\/2012-Plan-Comparison.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">benefits<\/a> but exactly what is included can vary based on where someone lives and the policy they purchase. Beginning January 2014, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will create a more uniform standard, requiring that all <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\" target=\"_blank\">health insurance coverage<\/a> for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/BlueAdvantage\/\" target=\"_blank\">individuals<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/group_health\/\" target=\"_blank\">small groups<\/a> includes certain treatments and procedures deemed \u201cessential health benefits.\u201d Large groups are not required to comply with the essential health benefits requirements. The underlying idea is that the \u201cessential benefits package\u201d be equal to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\" target=\"_blank\">coverage<\/a> offered under a \u201ctypical employer plan.\u201d Ten general categories were identified as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/BlueAdvantage\/\" target=\"_blank\">essential health benefits<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Ambulatory patient services;<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Emergency services;<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Hospitalization;<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Maternity and newborn care;<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices;<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Laboratory services;<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0 Mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment;<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Prescription drugs;<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Preventive and wellness and chronic disease management; and<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Pediatric services, including oral and vision care.<\/p>\n<p>For more information on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">health insurance coverage in North Carolina<\/a>, please visit our website at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/\">www.nchealthplans.com<\/a> or call our toll free number 888-765-5400 and speak with one of our      professional agents. Our agency provides coverage for health insurance      in North Carolina through <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC). <\/a>You may qualify for a 15% healthy lifestyle discount if you are in excellent health. Call us for details.<\/p>\n<p>The information in this article was taken from Nchealthreform.com on 3\/7\/2012.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, health insurance covers a wide range of benefits but exactly what is included can vary based on where someone lives and the policy they purchase. Beginning January 2014, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will create a more uniform standard, requiring that all health insurance coverage for individuals and small groups includes certain treatments and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,271],"tags":[523,820,53],"class_list":["post-3938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bcbsnc-insurance","category-health-care-reform","tag-essential-health-benefits","tag-health-care-reform","tag-health-insurance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3938"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3948,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938\/revisions\/3948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}