‘Prevention is better than cure’ – Recognizing the truth in this adage, ‘Obamacare’ has brought in the preventative healthcare services to create a healthy tomorrow. Heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic low respiratory disease and accidental injuries are considered as the five main causes for the increased mortality rate in the US. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated that approximately 69 million workers take sick leave every year thereby reducing the economic output by $260 billion. Only preventative healthcare can help reduce these numbers and promote a healthy, wealthy environment and nation for future generations. Let us learn the importance of preventative healthcare in ‘Obamacare’ and its benefits:
Reason for Introducing Preventative Healthcare:
Lack of access to quality and affordable healthcare, hygienic and healthy food items, proper shelter, and other financial barriers keep several US citizens from using the preventative healthcare services. To break this barrier of economic inequality, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) made preventative healthcare affordable and accessible to those US citizens who are under the poverty line.
Salient Features of Preventative Healthcare:
- People can enjoy most of the preventative healthcare services free of cost or without being charged a deductible, copayment, co-insurance, or other cost sharing.
- It offers 15 preventative healthcare services to adults, 22 to women and 26 to kids.
- These services can help people get treated at the earlier stages of their diseases and stop them from developing to the chronic level.
- Some of the free preventative care services include immunizations, well-woman visits, vaccine shots, mammograms, cancer & gestational diabetes screenings, human papilloma virus DNA testing, support for breastfeeding equipment, domestic violence screening & counseling and various clinical tests. These services are made easily available and accessible with no cost sharing.
- Counseling is provided to people who wish to quit smoking, lose weight, treat depression, quit drinking and maintain a healthy diet that could prevent illness.
- To prevent diseases like chickenpox, measles, meningitis, or even flu and certain forms of pneumonia, free vaccinations are provided.
- Productivity and economic drain can be greatly reduced by preventing illness using the ‘Obamacare’’s preventative healthcare services.
Who is Eligible?
- ‘Obamacare’ has made it mandatory that most health plans must cover certain preventative care services without cost sharing.
- For a better plan, one can check their State’s health insurance marketplace.
- One may be eligible for these preventative care services even if they have a minimum essential healthcare coverage.
- To make the most of these services, choose in-network providers, as out-of-network providers may not cover recommended preventative healthcare services.
It is wise to detect the diseases at a pre-clinical or an early stage and prevent them, instead of treating and curing fully-developed chronic conditions. Therefore, make complete use of ‘Obamacare’’s preventative healthcare services and stay healthy.