Given the exciting events anticipated to take place in January 2014, and our expertise in health care policy, we’ve decided to add a special “health care reform updates” section to our monthly newsletter to keep you in the loop about these upcoming changes. As May is national women’s health care month, Words for Good is celebrating accordingly by highlighting the fact that the PPACA will expand coverage to include forty-seven million more women nationwide. Additional provisions for women written into this legislation will include essential health benefits such as:

• One annual preventative check-up from a physician (“well-woman visits”)
• Screenings for gestational diabetes
• HPV screenings
• Counseling on how to avoid and treat STIs
• Testing for HIV/AIDs
• Breast feeding support, supplies, and advice
• Screenings and counseling opportunities for victims of interpersonal and domestic violence
• Access to all forms of FDA-approved contraception.

Basic coverage also provides osteoporosis screenings for women who are at-risk, and over the age of 60. Beginning in January, women will be able to purchase coverage for maternity care through individual plans sold on the virtual Health Insurance Marketplace. These options provide support for both mothers and their babies pre and post-term, accounting for developmental, medical, behavioral, and environmental factors. Health care reform also ensures female financial stability – women will no longer be expected to pay a higher price for the same plans received by men, nor depend on their spouse’s policy to meet their health care needs. Thanks to Obamacare, gender inequality increasingly continues to become a thing of the past.