Coverage of Preventive Services for Women
Recommendations of the Institute of Medicine
As a centerpiece of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010, the focus on preventive services is a profound shift from a reactive system that primarily responds to acute problems and urgent needs to one that helps foster optimal health and well-being. Women stand to benefit from this shift given their longer life expectancies, reproductive and gender-specific conditions, and historically greater burden of chronic disease and disability. And, for the same reasons, they will benefit economically since the ACA removes cost-sharing requirements for specified preventive services — eliminating out-of-pocket costs that often put screenings, counseling and procedures…
