On December 16, 2011 the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight ("CCIIO") within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("CMS") released a "bulletin" to "provide information and solicit comments on the regulatory approach that the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") plans to propose to define essential health benefits ("EHB") under section 1302 of the Affordable Care Act."[1] Public comments must be submitted to CMS by January 31, 2012. Comments should be sent to EssentialHealthBenefits@cms.hhs.gov.

As we described in more detail in earlier publications (see the BNA Health Insurance Report article entitled "The Importance of Stakeholder Participation in the Process to Define the ‘Essential Health Benefits Package'"; the Epstein Becker Green Implementing Health and Insurance Reform alert entitled "Meeting the Requirements for Defining the ‘Essential Health Benefits Package': DOL Publishes Survey of Employer-Sponsored Coverage"; and the Law360 article entitled "Defining the Essential Health Benefits Package"), the scope of the EHB package is defined in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("ACA") to include the following 10 categories of services ...