Loving the new Health Care Law

 

It’s Wednesday, bright and early! The birds are chirping and the coffee is brewing. As I walk briskly into the health center there is a change in the air. Young women are leaving their appointments with birth control and are NOT paying any additional costs! Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, women like me can get the contraception we need without copays.

Before the new health care law, the biggest obstacle surrounding birth control for thousands of young women was cost. Many couldn’t afford the monthly copays on their student budgets. Now, young women are stoked about not having another necessity to pay for and stress about. For most students, college isn’t the time when we want to become parents. So this provision, which helps us plan our future, is a really exciting development.

I have personally seen the benefits of birth control without copays.  In the last two years, five of my friends have had unintended pregnancies, and none of them was using birth control at the time. When I asked why they hadn’t used contraception, the overarching answer was the cost of the pill, and the difficulty of trying to obtain it. Now these five friends are using contraception and they couldn’t be happier.

I’ve seen the stress my friends deal with being a mother, a student and an employee all at the same time, and I know that’s not for me. Don’t get me wrong – I love being an aunt, a godmother and a pseudo mom, but babies are simply not on my immediate horizon. I’m staying healthy by making sure that I stay on the pill until I’m ready to start a family.

I know that many young women, especially those in my school’s health center, share my opinion too, especially since some of us are still in school or getting ready to start our careers. I’m sure they’d also agree with me when I say that this Valentine’s Day, I’m in love with something new. I’m in love with the health care law for providing coverage of the birth control I need without copays. 

Samantha Daley is a senior at the University of Central Florida majoring in Health Sciences with a concentration in Pre-Clinical Sciences and minoring in Women Studies. She is a chapter leader and Student Correspondent for Choice USA, a youth focused and youth directed organization centered on reproductive justice. You can read more from Samantha at CHOICEWORDS.

I checked... and I'm covered with no copays!

 

RWV’s New York intern, Nina Nnamani, shares what she learned about how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has improved her health insurance coverage in 2013.

As a woman in her early 20s, I am among those who benefit most from the health care law. I am in my first year of graduate school and have a lot of things on my “worry list” – assignments that must be turned in, rent that is due, loans that must be paid back and more. However, thanks to the new health care law, affording co-pays for key preventive care isn’t one of my worries.

Under the law, all new insurance plans must cover key preventive care for women without copays. This means that care like birth control or screenings for sexually transmitted infections are provided at no extra cost.

I knew this provision applied to plans starting after August 2012, and that many women would see the changes go into effect in January 2013 (when many new plan years start). But, I didn’t know whether my plan was complying and whether I’d begin seeing coverage without co-pays too.

Well, I checked, and it does! This is the first year that I will be able to get this key preventive care without paying for extra costs. This helps me stay healthy while on a student budget, and allows me to cross one more thing off of my “worry list.”

This provision of the health care law applies to all new plans starting on or after August 2012. Check to see if you are covered too! Ask these questions to find out whether your plan is complying.

Let us know what you find out by joining our #ACAwomen Tweetchat on Monday January 28^th, at 2 pm ET. We will be talking about the preventive care services now covered without co-pays, and would love to hear what you think. Tweet us @RWV4healthcare or use the hashtag #ACAwomen to join the conversation!

Giving thanks for birth control without copays!

This Thanksgiving I have much to be thankful for, particularly as a graduate of the University of California system, twice (Go Aggies & Bears!)

I am thankful that the UCs have decided to cover birth control without a copay! The University of California student health plan is now providing 100% coverage for FDA-approved generic contraceptives; and if a generic version is not available, the plan will fully cover your brand-name contraceptive.

This change means that students on the UC student health plan, who get their birth control at an in-network pharmacy, will no longer have to fork over a co-payment when they get their birth control! For some college women, this means extra room in their student budgets to pay for tuition and books. 

If you are a University of California student who would like to learn more about the new benefits the UCs are offering since the passage of the new health law, please take a look here. 

Other young women across the nation are seeing these changes to their health care coverage too. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we’d like to publicly say thanks for birth control without co-pay!  Update your Facebook or Twitter status with this photo and highlight the new benefits women are gaining through health reform with a status like:

• “Giving thanks for birth control without copay! #ourcoverage”

• “Thankful for birth control without copay this Thanksgiving #ourcoverage”

• “Thanks Affordable Care Act for birth control at no extra cost to me! #ourcoverage”

Let's spread the word (and thanks) for coverage that makes a difference in our lives!

Happy Thanksgiving!

written by Melissa Torres-Montoya, Raising Women's Voices for the Health Care We Need

Welcome to Our Campus, Our Coverage

Today marks the kick-off to the Our Campus, Our Coverage campaign! This campaign is for young women like me, who are among the first to see the benefits of the new health care law. We can stay on our parents' health care plans till we turn 26. Insurers can't drop our coverage if we become sick. And now, all new health care plans must cover key women's preventive health care, like birth control and HIV testing & counseling, without additional costs.

Since student health plans typically begin their plan year at the start of school (middle to late August), enrollees in these plans should be able to get no co-pay birth control. This is especially important for college-aged women because it gives us control over if and when we have kids, letting us accomplish our goals like finishing school.

So if you don't know much about the health care law or want to learn more about how it is helping us, join the webinar we have tonight (RSVP here). Get the facts about this new law, and bring Our Campus, Our Coverage to your college and community!

Written by Maryanne Tomazic, Raising Women's Voices for the Health Care We Need