Inform Article

Affordable Care Act: Preventive Care

08.18.2011
Posted by Nicole Stroud
Affordable Care Act: Preventive Care picture

Prepared By: Leadership Palm Beach County Class of 2011 in cooperation with Palm Beach County Medical Society

Summary of key provisions in the Affordable Care Act of 2010: Preventive Care

You and your family may be eligible for certain preventive services no additional cost.

What This Means for You:

If your plan is subject to these new requirements, you would not have to pay a copayment (a flat dollar amount you must pay for a covered service each time you visit your physician), co-insurance (the percentage of allowed charges that you are required to pay), or any deductible to receive preventive health services, such as recommended screenings, vaccinations, and counseling.

For example, depending on your age, you may have free access to such preventive services as:

  • Blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol tests;

  • Many cancer screenings, including mammograms and colonoscopies;

  • Counseling on such topics as quitting smoking, losing weight, eating healthfully, treating depression, and reducing alcohol use;

  • Routine vaccinations against diseases such as measles, polio, or meningitis;

  • Flu and pneumonia shots;

  • Counseling, screening, and vaccines to ensure healthy pregnancies;

  • Regular well-baby and well-child visits, from birth to age 21.

Some Important Details:

  • This provision applies to people enrolled in job-related health plans or individual insurance policies created after March 23, 2010. If you are in such a plan, this provision began as soon as your plan started its first new "plan year" or "policy year" on or after September 23, 2010.

  • If your health plan uses a network of providers, health plans are only required to provide these preventive services through an in-network provider.

  • Your doctor may provide a preventive service as part of an office visit. However, your plan can require you to pay some costs of the office visit, if the preventive service is not the primary purpose of the visit

Began September 23, 2010.