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y hospitals and doctors must be included in the final reform package. Performance data provides Americans with valuable information regarding the capability of these facilities and physicians to perform certain procedures. Already, patients are 'shopping' for health care. Consumer preferences have remarkably influenced obstetrics care. Many hospitals now provide 'homey' birthing rooms, and a small percentage offer birthing tubs. Consumerism is emerging as a powerful force in health care. Therefore, publishing performance data would allow patients to be more educated consumers.

Standardized benefits are a necessary component of health care reform. A standard package of basic health benefits must be offered. If packages are not standardized, they become more difficult to compare. The three reform package authors agree that a standard benefits offering is necessary. However, they do not agree on the number and kind of benefits to be offered. The administration's benefits package, for example, is too generous. While none of the plans suggest a substantial lowering of benefits from what we now enjoy, 'bean counters at the Treasury see what they termed politically-risky over promising by the administration' (Thomas, Clift, and Hager 28). Their package provides non-Medicare enrollees with hospital service, health-professional services, primary and preventative care, prescription drugs, and limited mental and substance abuse care. It also includes durable medical equipment, eyeglasses, and hospice care for the terminally ill. It contains a new Medicaid home and community-based program, raises the Medicaid asset limit from $200 to $12,000 and provides for a personal needs allowance of $70 monthly instead of the current $30. It also includes eye and dental coverage for children (Fry). The enormity of benefits seems to be an attempt to please everyone. This much coverage is too expensive and unnecessary. Alain Enthoven, a Stanford University health economist and member of the Jackson Hole Group, finds that 'most insurance plans currently are too generous because they do not impose enough financial incentives on individuals to use less care' (qtd. in Roberts and Clyde 104). For example, an individual having minor occasional knee pain is given a choice between living with the occasional pain or having an operation that costs $10,000. If the insurance plan covers the cost of the surgery, the individual is more likely to have the surgery. As a result, a relatively unnecessary and expensive procedure might be performed. Studies have shown that as much as 25 percent of health care costs are due to unnecessary services. Eliminating only one-third of all unnecessary treatments could save approximately $66 billion annually (U.S. Health 37). It stands to reason that if health care providers must pay for these unnecessary and costly procedures, eventually the cost will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums.

On the other hand, Representative Cooper's benefits package is more fiscally conservative. His plan suggests a basic health care package including medically appropriate treatment and effective preventive services. Persons wishing to purchase more coverage may do so. Still, the basic package would be the minimum coverage that a provider could offer (Cooper, Stenholm, and Breaux 1202). This would make minimum coverage more affordable and thereby accessible to all Americans, requiring less subsidie