Study: Obamacare benefit mandates pose few problems for states, insurers

Adopting new benefit mandates under ObamaCare will not require major changes or cost increases, according to a study released Wednesday. Researchers at The Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said the states they surveyed are generally on track to enforce new requirements that insurers cover certain services. The healthcare law sets out 10 categories of "essential" benefits that every plan sold through a newly created insurance exchange must cover. Some critics have predicted that adding essential benefits to every plan would cause prices to rise. But insurers and regulators in a sample of states were generally able to apply the new mandates easily, according to the new study.