Obamacare’s provisions for young women

Photo by LaDawna Howard, via flickr

Cherilyn Bean/Contributing Writer 

October marks National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and thanks to Obamacare, young women like me have access to preventive care and checkups that can help us identify abnormalities and potential cancer early, when they are most treatable.

We, the students, are all too aware of the rising cost of tuition, textbooks, living expenses and school fees. These things, on top of the cost of health care, can be expensive. Now, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, I don’t have to delay checkups and preventive care because of the cost.

Twenty-seven million currently insured women have already benefited from access to fully covered women’s preventive services, including breast exams and mammograms — 1.47 million of them in Florida. When the law goes into full effect, 47 million women nationally — 2.48 million women in Florida— will benefit from this provision. Additionally, people under the age of 26 can now stay on their parents’ health plan, thanks to Obamacare. This is especially important to my peers and myself, since buying health insurance often does not take priority when things like exams, grades, graduation and finding jobs in our fields are occupying our time and energy.

The law also means that health insurance plans will no longer be able to deny anyone coverage based on pre-existing conditions like breast cancer. This will help women who have overcome breast cancer continue medical care for a more healthy future without fear of losing insurance coverage or going bankrupt.

On Oct. 1, an estimated 3.5 million uninsured Florida residents will become eligible to enroll for more affordable insurance, many for the first time, under the new law. This includes the thousands of recent FIU graduates who are just starting out with their careers and families, and are in desperate need of this service.

Every woman deserves access to lifesaving breast cancer screenings from trusted health care providers, and thanks to Obamacare, they’ll do so without fear of looming debt. That’s why I’m standing with Planned Parenthood for National Breast Cancer Awareness month to say: Obamacare works. It works for young women like me and we’re not going to let anyone take it away.

 opinion@fiusm.com