INDIANAPOLIS - A new provision in health-care reform may prove true the
adage about an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure.
Chronic diseases are responsible for seven out of 10 deaths in America every
year, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report,
and account for three-quarters of all health-care spending. However, many of
these diseases can be prevented - or at least better controlled - with
preventive screening.
Carol Verret knows first-hand about the importance of screenings after
getting a simple blood panel at a health fair.
“After another series of tests, it was determined that my breast cancer,
that I initially had over 5 years before, had come back in my bone marrow.”
Verret had a blood transfusion and hormone therapy, and now says she’s doing
great. However, she’s also glad the cancer was caught in time.
New provisions in the Affordable Care Act require that health insurers pay
for preventive care. That means diagnostic tests such as pap smears or
mammograms now are available without a co-pay. Critics say the government
has no business mandating health care.
Kathy Leinz thinks any preventive care is a good thing. Like Verret, she
found out at a health-fair screening that she had cancer. In her case, an
aggressive form of colon cancer had moved into her liver.
“The treatments are not fun. They’re very invasive to your body. But I guess
the alternative to me was not an option.”
Verret, who owns a small business, says she was counting her health-care
pennies, even though she has insurance, because of the recession. That could
have been a life-ending mistake.
“For an ordinary person, you don’t connect the dots between a way you are
feeling and something that may be internally wrong with you.”
Leinz agrees.
“By doing what I did, it has saved my life. I would not be here today had I
not had that blood test taken.”
The new provisions also allow for screenings for sexually transmitted
diseases, contraceptive care and domestic-violence screenings - all without
a co-pay.
The full Act is online at healthcare.gov
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