ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that the proposal's most attractive features might be realizable on a voluntary basis, without regulatory legislation, and that this is not only a more realistic but also a more appropriate policy objective. The proposal contemplates that a health plan accepting the basic benefit plan, and all providers of care under such a plan, would be immune from legal actions for not providing or recommending a service not included in the basic benefit package. Although one can doubt both the political feasibility and the wisdom of implementing the proposal's basic benefit plan by legislative fiat, the desirability of a joint public/private effort to promulgate a well-designed basic benefit package remains clear. A Panel that was dedicated to assisting economizing efforts by independent entities should seek to facilitate not only the intelligent exercise of choice but also the implementation of the choices made.
