Health Benefits for Women

On February 20, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services released a set of Frequently Asked Questions which clarified many issues related to implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s preventive services requirement.  The FAQ is an important step towards ensuring that insurance plans and issuers implement the Women’s Preventive Health Services provision so that women get the comprehensive and affordable services guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act.  While the FAQ leaves some implementation questions unanswered, the National Women’s Law Center is pleased that the Department addressed several major issues to make sure that women have the coverage required by the law.  The charts below summarize implementation issues and how the FAQ responds to them.

Your health plan should be providing coverage for the women’s preventive services with no cost-sharing, if your plan is not grandfathered.* The best way to find out for sure that you have coverage for the women’s preventive services without cost sharing and to get information on how these services will be covered is to call your insurance company.

Below is a phone script for you to use when talking to your insurance company. ( If you are not getting the answers you need, call the National Women’s Law Center PILL4US hotline at 1-866-PILL4US or email pill4us@nwlc.org. We are here to help you if you aren’t getting the women’s preventive health services without a co-pay, as required by the health care law.