U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
Today is August 1, which marks the day that some of the "horrors" of the Affordable Care Act, aka the evil and dreaded "ObamaCare" comes home to roost for women everywhere. And by "horrors" I mean that preventative health coverage for new insurance plans will be available to women.
Hide the children!
For those who aren't aware of this already, here's the actual "scary" part: Many health insurance plans don't cover preventive health services for women. A a great deal of those plans require women to pay huge co-pays or deductibles for services just to stay healthy. Things like mammograms and other cancer screenings, or screenings for things like HPV and HIV, even routine screenings for women who are pregnant and prenatal care. Due to the expense, many women just go without forcing them to face potential life and death consequences.
Thanks to "ObamaCare," effective today, women will have access to even more life-saving preventive care free of charge for the first time ever:
According to a new HHS report also released today, approximately 47 million women are in health plans that must cover these new preventive services at no charge. Women, not insurance companies, can now make health decisions that will keep them healthy, catch potentially serious conditions at an earlier state, and protect them and their families from crushing medical bills.
“President Obama is moving our country forward by giving women control over their health care,” Secretary Sebelius said. “This law puts women and their doctors, not insurance companies or the government, in charge of health care decisions.”The eight new prevention-related services are:
- Well-woman visits.
- Gestational diabetes screening that helps protect pregnant women from one of the most serious pregnancy-related diseases.
- Domestic and interpersonal violence screening and counseling.
- FDA-approved contraceptive methods, and contraceptive education and counseling.
- Breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling.
- HPV DNA testing, for women 30 or older.
- Sexually transmitted infections counseling for sexually-active women.
- HIV screening and counseling for sexually-active women.
- The health care law has already helped women in private plans and Medicare for the first time gain access to potentially life-saving tests and services, such as mammograms, cholesterol screenings, and flu shots without coinsurance or deductibles. Today’s announcement builds on these benefits, generally requiring insurance companies to offer, with no copay, additional vital screenings and tests to help keep women healthy throughout their lives.
Nowhere in that list is any mention of the dreaded "death panels" that Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, and now even "mainstream" Republicans talk about. (Or whatever passes for "mainstream" these days.)
All this is just a small part of what Republicans and Mitt Romney want to take away from you as they vow to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The GOP has spent a lot of your money and already by wasting time voting to repeal it 33 times already. So far.
They're serious. They will kill the ACA. Now more than ever, your vote matters.
In fact, your life may depend on it.
