Political Roots of Health Benefit Mandates

Benefit mandates restrict the kinds of plans that private health insurance companies can offer by requiring them to cover certain conditions or procedures. Benefit mandates should not be confused with individual mandates (which require individuals to buy health insurance) or employer mandates (which require employers to buy health insurance for their workers). Most commonly, benefit mandates require insurers to cover a specific procedure (such as prostate cancer screening tests) or disease (such as diabetes). It is also common for mandates to require coverage of certain types of providers, such as nurse-practitioners or naturopaths. Occasionally, mandates specify whom insurance plans must cover. Table 1 gives some examples of common mandates.