Posted on 07/14/2010 11:27:38 PM PDT by Libloather
White House Unveils Free Preventative Services
BY JANET ADAMY
JULY 15, 2010
WASHINGTON—Treatments for the prevention of alcohol abuse, depression and obesity are among the services that will be free to consumers with new insurance plans starting in September.
As part of the new health law, the Obama administration on Wednesday released rules specifying which preventive health services insurers must provide to consumers at no additional cost. Democrats hope the change will be one of the most popular early pieces of the sweeping legislation.
"Services like these will go a long way in preventing chronic illness," First Lady Michelle Obama said Wednesday.
Under the provision, health plans initiated after Sept. 23 must cover preventive health services at no additional cost to the consumer. People who stay on their existing health plans won't benefit from the change.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
July 14, 2010 -- A variety of preventive services, from immunizations to colonoscopies, is due to be covered without cost to consumers under new insurance plans as part of the health care reform bill.
The new provisions were announced Wednesday afternoon by first lady Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Under the new rules, if you enroll in a new health plan on or after Sept. 23, 2010, the plan must provide recommended preventive care services without cost-sharing such as co-pays or deductibles.
Details of the provisions were provided at a news teleconference by Nancy-Ann DeParle, White House director of health care reform, and Stephanie Cutter, assistant to the president for special projects.
"Starting on Sept. 23, all new plans have to cover a comprehensive range of preventive services'' recommended by doctors and other experts, without out-of-pocket costs, DeParle said.
Preventive Care: What's Covered?
Depending on the health plan type and such factors as your age, preventive care is expected to include such services as:
Blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol tests
Cancer screenings
Counseling on smoking cessation, weight loss, healthy eating, depression treatments, and reduction of alcohol use
Vaccines for measles, polio, meningitis, and HPV (human papilloma virus)
Shots for flu and pneumonia prevention
Screening, vaccines, and counseling for healthy pregnancies
Well-baby and well-child visits up to the age of 21, as well as vision and hearing, developmental assessments, and body mass index (BMI) screenings for obesity
Mammograms for women over age 40
Pap smears for cervical cancer prevention
Colon cancer screening tests for adults over age 50
Preventive Care: The Impact
The new regulations represent a fundamental shift in how health care is addressed, DeParle says. "We are shifting form health care coverage meaning coverage for the sick to meaning coverage to keep you well."
The aim, she says, is "to create a healthier country."
''Chronic disease such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and others are responsible for seven of 10 deaths among American each year and account for 75% of the nation's health care spending," Cutter says.
The co-pays and other out-of-pocket costs to help prevent these problems are a stumbling block, Cutter and DeParle say. For instance, Cutter says, "12% of children have not had a doctor's visit within the last year and receive recommended care less than half the time."
Over time, between today and 2013, the new preventive care provisions will help an estimated 88 million Americans get preventive care, including those in group and individual plans, according to government estimates. Under many large employer plans, these services have been covered for some time.
Preventive Care: Consumer Advice
What to do next? ''Individuals should check with their employers and their insurance policy about what is covered under those plans," Cutter says. "When the plans turn over to a new one,'' says Cutter, the new covered preventive services provisions will take effect.
Meanwhile, consumers can check out www.healthcare.gov, type in a health plan, and see if preventive care is covered.
http://www.webmd.com/news/20100714/new-insurance-rules-free-preventive-health-care?src=RSS_PUBLIC
nothing is free
There is not one adult in the WH is there?
There’s no such thing as a free lunch. And being fat, drunk and depressed to get one would be a hell of a life.
If there really were things that would “pay for themselves” — the insco’s are not stupid, they would have put that in their policies long ago.
This is rather selfish of the Whitehouse to limit the free goodies to just preventative health care. Why don’t they mandate a free car too? Or do they not care about poor people who drive dangerous old wrecks?
The word “free,” of course, is code for monies taken at gun point by President Hussein ‘Nikolai Lenin’ Obama to hand around to his voter base - the AWTHO, or Americans With Their Hands Out.
But what if I don’t want a government appointed nanny?
Only way to do that is to become a congressperson.
There. Fixed it.
The only adults in the White House are the cooks, the gardeners, the maids, the dog, and the secret service.
The longer you live, the longer the left can tax you to death!
People who can afford to pay $100 a month to have the latest iPhone won't have to pay one thin dime for something that could save their life, but the rest of us will have to pay it for them?
You can't live without food, so using the same logic as the Rats, Food should be “free” too. Same with Water or the Double Mocha at Starbucks that the people just can't live without I guess.
Most of the S.S. Agents, and the guy who walks the dog 'BO'. Other than that, it's hard to say.
...And the unfortunate Marines any one of whom would make a better Prez than the moron that got elected.
Not one who has a voice...
Oh, man...this is a huge bump!
Another unsustainable promise dropped just before congressional elections to woo people like that idiotic woman who sincerely believed that if Obama was elected she wouldn't have to pay rent on her house, or for insurance on her car, etc...
The press thinks the goal of the plan is to help people but the goal has nothing to do with providing preventative cae and everything to do with getting the gullible democrat base to turn out in the election.
The trick to this stuff is not starting such pipedreams too early because they inevitably fail - you have to get the voters to the voting booths while they still believe this bullspit, before they get a chance to think about the sheer impossibility of it all.
Who is gonna provide these free services? the insurance company giving something for nothing, the doctor who can’t work for nothing, the government which is already on verge of bankruptcy?
And just who needs these services...who doesn’t know that you can’t eat at McDonald’s round the clock? Hmmm?
Sounds like an attempt at more re-distribution to me but it won’t work for lack of funds and/or suppliers.
They’re just going to raise the cost of healthcare plans all the way across the board.
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