The Affordable Care Act: Women

The Affordable Care Act: Women

• Prevents insurance companies from dropping women when they get sick or become pregnant.
• Improves care for millions of older women with chronic conditions, by providing incentives under Medicare for more coordinated care.
• Over 47 million women with private health insurance are guaranteed free coverage of a range of preventive health services. Insurance companies must provide coverage for comprehensive women's preventive services, such as wellness visits, breastfeeding support and supplies, and gestational diabetes screening with no cost sharing.
• Being a woman will no longer a preexisting condition. Beginning in 2014, insurance companies are banned from denying coverage or charging higher premiums for preexisting conditions such as breast or cervical cancer, pregnancy, having had a C-section, or having been a victim of domestic violence.
• Ends practice of "gender rating," charging women higher premiums than men for the same coverage, beginning in 2014.
• Provides greater access to affordable health coverage with the establishment of Illinois Health Insurance Marketplaces for the millions of women and families who don't have access to affordable health insurance through an employer.
• Provides greater access to maternity services. Beginning in 2014, new insurance plans in the individual and small group market must provide coverage for maternity services.