8 New Preventive Services Available to Women Through the ACA

A provision of the new health care law expands womens’ access to potentially life-saving tests and services.

New rules requiring coverage of 8 new prevention-related health care services for women take effect August 1, 2012. These services will be free of charge, even if women previously had to pay copays or coinsurance. Many of these recommended preventive services are based on guidelines from the United States Preventive Services Task Force.

According to a new United States Department of Health & Human Services report, nearly 47 million women are in health plans that will now cover these new preventive services without coinsurance or deductibles. Although many women will now be able to utilize more screenings and tests to keep themselves healthy, group health plans and “issuers that have maintained grandfathered status” are not required to offer these services for free, according to a government press release.

The 8 new preventive services being offered include:

• Well-woman visits
• Gestational diabetes screening for pregnant women
• Domestic violence screening and counseling
• FDA-approved contraceptive methods and contraceptive education and counseling
• Breast-feeding support, supplies, and counseling
• HPV DNA testing for women 30 years and older
• Sexually transmitted infections counseling for sexually active women
• HIV screening and counseling for sexually active women

A full list of covered services for women is available on the healthcare.gov website. For a list of the various preventive tests available at no charge for adults and children, click here. See the report from the HHS for a breakdown of how many women in each state will receive guaranteed preventive health services without cost-sharing under the ACA.

Watch the below video from healthcare.gov to learn more about preventive care: