How the ACA Helps Women

June 4, 2013

From the desk of

SHADAC Director Lynn Blewett

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The Affordable Care Act (ACA) contains several key provisions that are particularly beneficial to women.  

First, the ACA changes a number of rules for insurance plans offered on the individual market.  As many of you know, these plans will not be able to charge women a higher premium than men – a common practice by private health plans—beginning in 2014.  Private plans will also be required to cover well-woman primary care visits; maternity and newborn care; breastfeeding supports (e.g., purchase or rental of a mechanical breast pump); as well as pediatric services, including oral and vision care.  Further, plans will no longer be able to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions including benign breast lumps, mental illness (experienced at higher rates by women), pregnancy, and previous caesarian, among others; and plans will not be allowed to charge higher rates based on health status.

Next, the ACA expands Medicaid eligibility to all individuals with incomes up to 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Guideline.  Since women are more likely than men to have incomes below this threshold, this provision is particularly beneficial to women:  At present, there are an estimated 10.5 million uninsured women under 138 percent of the FPL who are potentially eligible for the Medicaid expansion.[1]

Finally, the ACA also contains provisions that address the health care services for female Medicare beneficiaries.   For example, the ACA removes co-pays for most preventive services including mammograms, pap smears and bone density screenings.

A fact sheet about how the ACA benefits women can be found here, and an infographic on the topic is available here.

You can also test how much you know about the ACA and women’s health issues by taking a fun interactive quiz developed by the Kaiser Family Foundation.