ACA preventive care use expected to rise in coming years

Because of a provision in the ACA, last year more than 2.1 million Ohioans did not pay a co-pay or other out-of-pocket costs for preventive services, a number some experts predict will grow as more patients become aware of the benefit (Source: "Free health care going unused," Dayton Daily News, Dec. 3, 2012)

“My general impression is people are not aware that these services are a consequence of the (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act),” said Dr. Margaret Dunn, a practicing surgeon and president and chief executive of Wright State Physicians, a group of more than 130 doctors who serve on the faculty of Wright State University’s Boonshoft School of Medicine.

“Healthcare in the United States is so complicated that people are just chronically confused about what their insurance covers or doesn’t cover,” she said. “I see a lot of patients in my practice that have breast issues or have had breast cancer, and when I’m talking to them about screening mammograms as a preventive service covered by this provision of the ACA where you won’t have a co-pay….it’s a completely novel conversation to them.”

According to data from the federal Department of Health and Human Services, 54 million Americans received preventive care with no cost sharing in 2011.