With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, California health insurance now includes important preventive care that costs you nothing beyond your regular premium. These services are provided without any co-insurance or co-pay charges, and you and your family will have coverage for these services even before your annual deductible has been met.
This is expected to benefit many people who have gone without regular checkups due to the cost. Regular preventive care is one of the main ways to stay healthy. It also just brings peace of mind when you're on top of any changes in your health. The only problem is that you have to buy a policy after health care reform was signed into law on March 23, 2010 to get this expanded coverage.
New Health Insurance In California Can Help With Many Health Problems
These free preventive services are recommended to help you maintain your health, and even counseling is covered. This counseling can be used to help you stop smoking or lose weight. It can also focus on eating healthfully, reducing the alcohol you consume or to treat depression.
Most of us can also benefit from blood pressure checks, screening for the signs of diabetes and checks for high cholesterol. All of this is included under the free preventive care. That's equally true for many forms of screening for cancer, such as colonoscopies and mammograms.
California Health Insurance Offers More For Mothers-to-be And Their Babies
When you're pregnant, you can benefit from the new free preventive care that includes counseling, screening and vaccines to promote a healthy pregnancy. This provision alone can make a big difference in the health of new generations.
Your baby can also benefit from regular well-baby exams. Well-child doctor visits are also covered for children up to the age of 21. Of course, common vaccinations for measles, meningitis and polio are also included, along with flu and pneumonia shots.
Health Insurance In California Has Restrictions On Free Preventive Care
The new preventive care is available through both the group health insurance for California you receive via your employer and the individual California health insurance plans you buy on your own.
California insurance plans are only required to cover such preventive care from their in-network providers, though. Your coverage may let you get these services from out-of-network providers, but you'll probably have to pay a fee if you go "out of network."
If your in-network doctor does a procedure, like a cholesterol screening test, during an office visit, you may still have to pay for part of the office visit since the preventive care is not the main reason for the visit.
That can also happen if your doctor bills you for the preventive service as being separate from an office visit. Confirm these provisions with your insurance agent or company to be sure you understand any possible charges.
Health insurance in California can bring you more complete care now that will make it easier to protect your precious health. It's typically easier to reverse health problems when you catch them early. These new preventive benefits are a strong incentive to compare your existing coverage to the new benefits. If you haven't had coverage, now there's more reason than ever to look into it.
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