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No copay, coinsurance or deductible for these services
Prevention is better than cure… always! One of the best ways to stay healthy is to listen to your body and undergo routine checkups before symptoms start surfacing. It not only keeps you in charge of your health conditions but can also save you some serious money down the road. Research shows chronic conditions – responsible for 7 of 10 deaths among Americans each year, account for 75 percent of the nation’s health expenditure and are often preventable.
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), all health insurance plans must cover specific preventive care services, including vaccinations, certain disease screenings and also certain types of counseling. These services are free if you get your care from a provider in the network.
If you have a new health insurance plan or insurance policy beginning on or after September 23, 2010, the following preventive services are covered at no cost to you. This applies only when these services are delivered by a network provider.
15 Covered Preventive Services for Adults
- Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm: one-time screening for men of specified ages who have ever smoked
- Alcohol Misuse: screening and counseling
- Aspirin: used by men and women of certain age
- Blood Pressure: screening for all adults
- Cholesterol: screening for adults within certain age or at higher risk
- Colorectal Cancer: screening for adults over 50
- Depression: screening for adults
- Type 2 Diabetes: screening for adults with high blood pressure
- Diet: counseling for adults at higher risk for chronic disease
- HIV: screening for all adults at higher risk
- Immunization: vaccines for adults–doses, recommended ages, and recommended populations vary
- Obesity: screening and counseling for all adults
- Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI): prevention counseling for adults at higher risk
- Tobacco Use: screening for all adults and cessation interventions for tobacco users
- Syphilis: screening for all adults at higher risk
There are also additional covered preventive services for women, including pregnant women, and children. View the entire list at HealthCare.gov.
Immunization
Another important aspect of Preventive Care is immunization. Individuals, including children, enrolled in new group or individual health plans will have access to the vaccines recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) with no co-payments or other cost-sharing requirements when those services are delivered by an in-network provider. These new health plans will be required to cover new ACIP recommendations made after September 2009 without cost-sharing in the next plan year that occurs one year after the date of the recommendation.
Vaccine Schedules
The latest immunization schedules can be found using the resources below:
- Recommended Adult Immunization Schedule
- Recommended Immunization Schedule for Infants,Young Children between Ages 0 to 6, and Children and Teens Ages 7 to 18 Years
- Catch-up Immunization Schedule for Children and Teens from Age 4 Months through to 18 Years
- Immunization Information for College Students and Young Adults Immunization Information for Seniors
- Immunization Information for Pregnant Women
When in doubt… Ask!
Before scheduling your appointment for any free preventive services, contact your insurer and make sure everything is covered by the plan. If you’re visiting your doctor, ask his/her recommendations about which covered preventive services are right for you — based on your age, gender, and health status.
Preventive care often leads to finding health problems early, when your chances for treatment and cure are better. So get your annual screenings done as soon as possible and stay healthy!
