Affordable Care Act

Regardless of my opinions of President Obama's other policies, I am grateful and truly respect the Affordable Care Act which took effect on August 1st, 2012.  This mandate grants 47 million women enrolled in workplace health insurance the eligibility to free preventive health care services. "Women deserve to have control over their health care," wrote Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a recent blog post on Healthcare.gov.  Under the new provision, eight services will be available to women without paying a co-pay.

1. Well-woman visits, including annual check-ups for recommended preventive services, more if doctors determine it to be necessary.

2. FDA-approved contraception and counseling is free for those women with employer-sponsored health insurance.  This includes sterilization procedures and education without a co-pay

3. Gestational diabetes screening is now a free test for women 24-48 weeks pregnant with a high chance of developing gestational diabetes.  Women who have this ailment are at an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in the near future.  Their children are also more likely to be overweight and insulin-resistant during childhood.

4. HPV (Human Papillomavirus) DNA testing for women 30 years of age and older can be tested, despite Pap smear results.  This test is especially important because early HPV screening has been shown to reduce the prevalence of cervical cancer.

5. Annual STI (Sexually Transmitted Infection) counseling is provided for sexually-active women.  It has been shown to decrease risky sexual behavior in patients.  A surprisingly low 28% of women aged 18-44 have discussed STI's and STD's with their primary care physician.

6.  HIV screening is also provided for sexually active women.  "From 1999 to 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a 15 percent increase in AIDS cases among women and a 1% increase among men," stated Ryan Joslow of CBS news.

7.  Providing breastfeeding support and supplies for pregnant and postpartum women, including lactation support and counseling from trained professionals, as well as equipment.

8.  Interpersonal and domestic violence screening for adolescent and adult women.  A reported 25% of U.S. women have been targets of intimate partner violence, and this act aims to increase their safety.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a groups of doctors that govern treatment guidelines, provide a wide variety of preventive services: yearly or biyearly mammograms for women 40 and older, cervical cancer screenings, and prenatal care.  It also needs to be understood that until the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented, uninsured women will still be required to pay out of pocked for contraceptives.  Religious universities and hospitals that find contraception to be an "unconscionable violation" of their beliefs can decline to cover it, and insurance companies will then be responsible to step in and prove.

Though this seems like a huge step forward for women to me, it has quickly become a controversial topic.  Many Catholic organizations are outraged and 12 lawsuits in 43 different courts have ben filed across the country.  Good news cannot come without a debate as the church opposes the mandate which requires birth control to be provided to insured women free of charge.   Some argue that contraception was already available for those who wanted it, inexpensive, and easy to access.  They say that the government should not be forcing people to provide it free to women and it may violate some companies conscience.  While some maybe be insulted, it seems unanimous that the policy helps far more people than is offends.  "It's not just important to women, it's important to their families, it's important to their children," said Pamela Kalinowski of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia.

On a more political note, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said in a Washington news conference that if elected, "I will reverse every single Obama regulation that attacks our religious liberty and threatens innocent life in this country."....SHOCKING (sarcasm)

Overall this seems like a great option for women, helping us worry less about unwanted pregnancy and most likely reducing abortion rates and improving children's quality of life.