Task Force Issues No-Cost Preventive Services Recommendations
The number of preventive health services insurers must cover without charging individuals out-of-pocket payments continues to increase, Kaiser Health News reports.
Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers are required to cover services that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force labels with an "A" or "B" recommendation. The recommendations take effect for the plan year that starts one year after the recommendations are issued.
Two of the tasks force's latest recommended services are:
- Hepatitis B screening for adults and adolescents at high risk for infection; and
- Low-dose aspirin use for pregnant women with high risk for preeclampsia.
In addition, the task force has issued a recommendation for gestational diabetes in women who are asymptomatic after 24 weeks, though that service already is offered at no-cost by insurers following an HHS-commissioned study (Andrews, Kaiser Health News, 6/5).
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