Being A Woman Will Be Easier on August 1st!

Starting tomorrow thanks to the Affordable Care Act women will be able to receive additional health care services. Any new plans after August 1st will have to include key preventative services without co-pays:

• Comprehensive contraceptive care: The full range of Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive methods, including birth control pills, condoms and IUDs as well as sterilization procedures, patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity. 
• Screening and counseling for intimate partner violence: Screening and counseling for women and adolescents about current and past violence and abuse so that providers can address health concerns about safety and other health problems that may be associated with interpersonal and domestic violence.
• Screening for gestational diabetes: Screening pregnant women for gestational diabetes, a form of the disease which develops during pregnancy and occurs more often among women of color.
• Breastfeeding counseling and equipment: Making trained breastfeeding counselors available to all women during pregnancy and after they give birth and making breastfeeding equipment available to those who want it. 
• Screening for sexually transmitted infections (STIs): Counseling all sexually active women on STIs annually; screening all sexually active women for HIV infection annually; and adding a test for high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) – an infection that can cause cervical cancer -- to conventional cervical cancer screening for women starting at age 30 and continuing every three years. 
• Well-woman preventive care visits: Conducting at least one well-woman preventive care visit for adult women each year so that women can get the recommended preventive services. 

For more information see Raising Women’s Voices’ Countdown to Coverage website that includes information on these preventative services as well as other gains for women under the Affordable Care Act.