White House Unveils Free Preventative Services

By JANET ADAMY
WASHINGTON—Treatments for the prevention of alcohol abuse, depression and obesity are among the services that will be free to consumers with new insurance plans starting in September.

As part of the new health law, the Obama administration on Wednesday released rules specifying which preventive health services insurers must provide to consumers at no additional cost. Democrats hope the change will be one of the most popular early pieces of the sweeping legislation.

"Services like these will go a long way in preventing chronic illness," First Lady Michelle Obama said Wednesday.

Under the provision, health plans initiated after Sept. 23 must cover preventive health services at no additional cost to the consumer. People who stay on their existing health plans won't benefit from the change.

For adults, the list of covered services includes mammograms, colonoscopies and other cancer screenings, diabetes screenings, counseling for tobacco use and certain types of pre-natal care. For children, it includes pediatric visits, vision and hearing screening, developmental assessments, immunizations and obesity screenings.

Insurers say the changes won't be free to consumers since plans will have to raise premiums overall to offset the cost of covering these services. The Obama administration estimates that the changes will increase the cost of premiums by an average of 1.5% a year.

The regulations don't address a different slate of covered preventive services for women, which won't be determined until August 2011. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America is pushing for birth control to be included in that segment of the regulations. Screenings for HIV and several other sexually transmitted diseases qualify as free preventive care under the guidelines released Wednesday.

"Avoiding unintended pregnancy is one of the most important medical issues for women," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood. The group wants all types of prescription birth control that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration to qualify as free preventive care.

Many preventive services, particularly vaccinations, are already covered by most insurers. By 2013, the White House says, 88 million Americans will benefit from the changes.

To determine which services qualify as preventive, government officials relied largely on existing recommendations by three groups, including the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The preventive services task force drew criticism last year for recommending that women delay annual mammogram services until age 50, instead of age 40. The health law effectively ignores that recommendation, making mammograms a covered preventive service at age 40 under the law.

Often because of cost, Americans use preventive services at about half the recommended rate, according to research cited by the White House. Chronic diseases, which are often preventable, are responsible for 7 of 10 deaths among Americans each year and account for 75% of the nation's health spending.

Among the obesity services that will be covered are screenings to determine a person's body-mass index, as well as other detection and counseling services. Prenatal services will include screenings for iron deficiency. For children's immunizations, flu shots will be covered.