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Uploaded: Thursday, August 2, 2012, 10:22 AM
More women to get health services under new law
As of Aug. 1, Affordable Care Act requires all new private insurance plans to cover certain preventive services without co-payments
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by Sue Dremann
Palo Alto Online Staff
Access to women's health services expanded on Wednesday, Aug. 1, due to the federal Affordable Care Act. The guaranteed services are part of a package of preventative services in the act designed to help underserved populations avoid or reduce the impact of serious chronic diseases.
Previous to the enactment of the health care law, many insurance plans did not cover basic women's preventive care. Co-payments for important women's services prevented some people from seeking services, U.S. Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Palo Alto) said in a statement about the new law on Wednesday. More than half of American women are thought to have delayed or forgone necessary care due to cost.
The health care law requires all new private insurance plans to cover the preventive services without co-payments or other cost-sharing requirements. Those services include domestic-violence screening, FDA-approved contraception, breastfeeding support and supplies, gestational diabetes screening, human papilloma virus testing, sexually transmitted disease counseling, HIV screening and "well woman" visits.
New health-insurance plans must also cover without cost-sharing: mammograms every 1 to 2 years for women older than 40; cervical-cancer screening; smoking- and alcohol-cessation programs for adults; prenatal screenings and tests; diabetes and blood-pressure screening and counseling; and depression screening for adolescents and adults.
Although the law takes effect Aug. 1, most plan changes start at the beginning of a new plan year, according to the nonprofit National Women's Law Center, which supports and promotes women's rights.
The requirements will be in effect for most plans on Jan. 1, 2013. School health plans, which often begin their health-plan years around the beginning of the school year, benefit from the Aug. 1 start date, the law center noted.
Eshoo lauded the new provisions.
"Forty-seven million women across the country, including 5 million women in California, will now receive important preventive services without co-pay because of the new health care law. With these new provisions, women will no longer need to forgo preventive services to stay healthy, catch potentially life-threatening illnesses earlier, and protect against prohibitive medical costs," she stated.
A fact sheet on the new women's benefits is available through the law center.Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by curious, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Aug 2, 2012 at 11:26 am So now the Obama administration can force Catholics, Mormons, orthodox Jews, Muslims and other people religiously opposed to abortion to pay for these services through their insurance premiums. They are running rough shod over the Constitution and many in Mountain View slavishly support them because they agree with their views. Well, when they run over your views there will be no one left to help you.
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Posted by Old Ben, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Aug 2, 2012 at 12:39 pm If my tax dollars can be used for endless ever-expanding wars against anybody that didn't get a Hanukah card from Netanyahu, I suppose they might as well be spent on abortion.
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Posted by Liz, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Aug 2, 2012 at 2:40 pm Where does it say ANYTHING about abortion? That is the problem. Say a lie loud enough and long enough and it becomes a truth. It's not a truth, it's still a lie. There is nothing about paying for abortion. I have heard many of the arguements from the religous organizations complaining about having to offer contraception which is against their moral views. It is an offer - do they not believe that their people share their moral views? They don't have to use the services, not if they don't believe them to be moral. No one is forcing them to use them, only to offer them.
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Posted by GDM, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Aug 2, 2012 at 2:50 pm Well said Liz. I totally agree.
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Posted by Thank you, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Aug 2, 2012 at 5:29 pm Thank you Liz! You are so right. The reason that it does not say abortion is that the healthcare law does NOT cover abortion.
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Posted by curious, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Aug 3, 2012 at 10:40 am Liz
Suppose the Romney Administration forces insurance companies to pay for counseling for teenagers with homosexual tendencies to "straighten" them out. You, of course, would not have to use the counseling for your children. Would you be OK with paying for the extra fees charged by the insurance company for providing this counseling?
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Posted by George, a resident of the Rex Manor neighborhood, on Aug 3, 2012 at 2:08 pm so from now on, men's PROSTATE TESTS will be free ? More men die each year from Prostate Cancer than do women from breast and uterine cancers.. and since Men usually don't live as long as the ladies, then Men should be able to cut to the front of the Medical Waiting lines, even ahead of the illegals.
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Posted by MaleMatters, a resident of another community, on Aug 4, 2012 at 9:54 am George, a resident of the Rex Manor neighborhood,is correct. He dared mention the unmentionable: health discrimination against men.
See:
"Health Disparities Persist for Men, and Doctors Ask Why"
Web Link
And that's in the pro-female New York Times!
See also liberal men, take note):
"Obama's discrimination against men"
Web Link
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Posted by Otto Maddox, a resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood, on Aug 6, 2012 at 8:46 am Obamacare does not cover abortions.
It's a really bad tactic to outright lie about something you don't agree with. If you want to change people's minds, maybe, then you have to stick to the facts.
When you lie they just write off everything else you have to say.
And I'm against Obamacare but it has nothing to do with abortion rights.
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Posted by curious, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Aug 8, 2012 at 5:01 pm Otto, you are wrong. Obamacare not only covers abortions but it forces businesses and religious groups opposed to abortion to provide abortifacents (morning after pills).
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