The case for the clinton plan for health care reform

To the Editor: Despite its impressive scope and detail, Starr's description of the Health Security plan (Nov. 25 issue)¹ neglected a key element of health care reform: the content of the federally mandated minimal-benefit package. Its content will determine whether the plan can achieve its principal objectives. One policy option that might promote agreement on a basic benefit package would be to distinguish explicitly between necessary and elective medical services and to structure the benefits differently for these two types of care. Under such a plan, medically necessary care would be covered completely, but patients would make mandatory copayments for.