Preventive health care up in R.I. ’11

By Richard Asinof
Contributing Writer
Twitter: @RichardAsinof

WASHINGTON – About 195,000 Rhode Island residents with private health insurance received free preventive services in 2011 as a result of the health care reform law, according to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

An estimated 128,218 Rhode Islanders with Medicare received at least one new free preventive service in 2011 since the health care reform law was enacted, Sebelius added.

“Americans of all ages can now get the preventive services they need, like mammograms and the new Annual Wellness Visit, free of charge, as a result of the new health care law,” Sebelius said. “With more people taking advantage of these benefits, more lives can be saved, and costly, and often burdensome, diseases can be prevented or caught earlier.”

Nationwide, the Affordable Care Act provided approximately 54 million Americans with at least one new free preventive service in 2011 through their private health insurance plans. And, an estimated 32.5 million people with Medicare received at least one free preventive benefit in 2011, including the new Annual Wellness Visit, since the health reform law was enacted. Together, this means an estimated 86 million Americans were helped by health reform’s prevention coverage improvements.