government
HHS promotes new preventive coverage for women
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Aug. 13, 2012
Millions of women now have access to eight new preventive services without additional out-of-pocket costs under the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services announced on July 31.
The new services are: well-woman visits; domestic and interpersonal violence counseling and screening; breastfeeding support, counseling and supplies; gestational diabetes screening; Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptive methods and contraceptive counseling and education; HPV DNA testing for women over 30; sexually transmitted infections counseling; and HIV counseling and screening.
Before the health system reform law’s enactment, some insurers did not cover such services, or they required women to pay deductibles or co-pays. According to HHS, 47 million women are in plans required to cover these eight services with no out-of-pocket costs starting Aug. 1.
Women on Medicare and private insurance previously gained access to other preventive services without coinsurance or deductibles through the health system reform law, such as mammograms, flu shots and cholesterol screenings.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/08/13/gvbf0813.htm.
