Health care law gives women control over their care, holds insurance companies accountable for how they spend premiums: News of the Day

 An important provision in the landmark health care reform law goes into effect today. The provision requires that new insurance cover women's preventive care without charging a fee when their plan years begin. Another provision, called the Medical Loss Ratio, or "80/20" provision, will provide millions of Americans billions of dollars in rebates from their health insurance providers –those rebates must be sent out by today. 

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius lauded the women's care provision, which will benefit 47 million women, in an editorial in yesterday's USA Today:

Beginning Wednesday, all new insurance plans will be required to cover additional services and screenings for women without cost to the patient. These include services that are essential to helping women stay healthy — such as domestic violence screening, FDA-approved contraception, breastfeeding support and supplies, gestational diabetes screening, HPV testing, sexually transmitted infection counseling, and HIV screening. That's on top of other potentially life-saving services such as cholesterol screenings and flu shots that many private plans and Medicare have already begun covering with no co-pay thanks to the law...

Thanks to the health care law, women will no longer have to put off prevention. No woman should have to choose between seeing her doctor and putting food on the table for her family. Now, many women won't have to make that choice.

ABC News reported on the health care rebates:

The provision is aimed at holding health insurance companies accountable for how they spend the money collected through premiums. It compares the dollars they spend on health care costs vs. other overhead costs — like marketing, salaries and administrative expenses.

According to HHS, the 80/20 provision - so named because under the law, insurers must, spend 80-85 percent of the premium dollars they take in on health care costs and health care improvement activities - insurance companies will pay out a total of $1.1 billion in rebates to 12.8 million Americans.

Already, the Affordable Care Act is helping millions of Americans gain easier access to quality health care. Learn more about how the law is working.