New HHS Guidelines Help Ensure Preventive Health Care for Women

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced this week a set of guidelines that require health insurance plans to provide preventive health care services to women at no additional cost (i.e., without the need for co-payments, co-insurance, or deductibles). The guidelines, developed by the nonpartisan Institute of Medicine, will take effect in January 2013 for most insurance plans, according to an article in the New York Times.

Among the covered services are FDA-approved contraception methods, breastfeeding support, and counseling for domestic violence victims. Providing these, and other, preventative services to women at no additional cost is one way HHS aims to prevent teen and unintended pregnancies (the latter of which accounts for 35% of U.S. pregnancies, according to the National Survey of Family Growth).
Kidsdata.org offers data that relate to many of these issues, including:

• Teen births: In 2007, there were 37 births for every 1,000 teens ages 15-19 in California. Find data for your county. See more information about teen births.
• Breastfeeding: 2009 data show that 52% of California infants were breastfed exclusively in the hospital after birth, but percentages vary widely by county, from 14% to 86%. Find data for your county. See more information about breastfeeding.
• And domestic violence: In 2008, over 160,000 Californians placed calls for assistance with domestic violence. Find data for your county. See more information about dating and domestic violence.

Posted by kidsdata.org

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