Today, I unexpectedly got a letter from my health insurance company. It wasn’t a bill, and it wasn’t a letter telling me that they were going to increase my premiums, or drop my coverage. Instead, it was filled with good news about things that will soon be covered by my health insurance policy.
I’ve only had my health insurance plan for a couple of months. I haven’t actually had a reason to use it, yet. Fortunately, I haven’t gotten into any serious accidents, and have been relatively healthy. The only problems I’ve been having are allergy related and I find that acupuncture is providing me with the best possible help for that at this time. My health plan doesn’t actually cover acupuncture. Perhaps it will in the future.
Not too long ago, I got a letter from my health insurance company that informed me about changes that were being made to my plan. It was a bit of a surprise, considering the plan was very new to me.
The changes turned out to be good news. That letter was to let me know that my health insurance would include maternity coverage as of July 1, 2012. I would be getting this additional coverage without having to purchase a rider for it, and it wasn’t going to make my health insurance premiums increase.
Why would my health insurance company be so generous? It is because they have to. The letter said:
“Starting July 1, 2012, we will be adding maternity benefits to your policy for those covered under the policy. We are doing this because California law now requires all individual policies to provide maternity benefits”.
Today’s letter had even more good news for me. It reads:
“Effective August 1, 2012, your policy will include expanded preventative coverage for women, as required by the Affordable Care Act, also known as federal health care reform. Your policy will have new or expanded coverage for the following services, drugs, and supplies for women, which will be paid at 100% of the allowable charge when you visit a participating provider:”
What follows is a list of specific types of women’s health care that now will be covered, entirely, by my health insurance plan. The one that I am the most excited about is that it will cover birth control. I know from personal experience how difficult it is to be able to afford birth control on my own, without the help of a health insurance plan. The letter says my plan will cover:
“Prescription contraceptives (birth control) and counseling for women. Your prescription drug formulary determines which specific drugs are covered under your policy. To get 100% coverage for a covered prescription contraceptive, it must be a generic drug or a brand name drug that doesn’t have a generic equivalent, and it must be obtained from a network pharmacy. A cost share (such as a copay, coinsurance or deductible) may apply for other prescription contraceptives, based on your policy’s drug benefits.”
Image by Nate Grigg on Flickr