Birth Control to be Covered by Insurance by Law

[liveonearth]

August 1, 2011 — Health care reform requires new insurance plans to fully cover women's preventive care, which now will include free birth control, yearly wellness visits, breastfeeding counseling and equipment, and screening for gestational diabetes, domestic abuse, HPV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and HIV.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced the expanded definition of women's preventive care. The ruling closely follows the advice of an Institute of Medicine expert panel, released July 20.

"Today, as part of the Affordable Care Act, we are announcing historic new guidelines that will help women get the care they need to stay healthy," Sebelius said at a news teleconference. "Today we are accepting the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine, so no woman in America needs to choose between paying a grocery bill and paying for the key care that can save her life."

SOURCE
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/747359?src=mpnews&spon=16

Comment:
Much as I have been against the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") because it seems wrong to force me to pay anybody for a service that I may or may not want, the details that trickle out are good. Sure, the bill hands a great big paycheck to the insurance companies. But it also requires that they cover certain basics, like birth control and STD testing and treatment, completely. It also encourages breast feeding with education and tools. There are lots of smart requirements built in, that make the insurance companies actually DO SOMETHING positive for all that money they're getting. Obama isn't able to get positive headlines or marquees, but the fine print that comes from his administration is good. It's too bad that the vehicle for his work is such a leaky ship.

Comments

[ford-prefect42.livejournal.com]

In my view, the big story on this one is that Obama has unilaterally, without judicial review or senate approval, rewritten a contract entered into by almost every person in the US. He has, once again, made it clear to the business world that they can have no possible certainties in the US, and that the rule of law does not obtain.

[ford-prefect42.livejournal.com]

I guess I should clarify that I would have been very happy with a bunch of other implementations arranging for the coverage of reproductive health. Just this tyrannical declaration that all insurance policies in the country are hereby rewritten (with the consequent increases in the premiums of every insurance purchaser in the nation) really bugs me.

I want women to have reproductive health services, but I want a constitutional government and rule of law more.

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

Sure. I want both as well.