Another element of the Affordable Care Act went into effect this week that will have a positive impact on women’s health.

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree announced that starting Aug. 1 all new insurance policies will be required to cover essential women’s health services at no out-of-pocket cost to patients. The new coverage, required by the health care reform law, will benefit an estimated 213,000 women in Maine, according to Pingree.

Among the covered services are: Well-woman checkups, contraceptive coverage and counseling, domestic violence screening and counseling, breastfeeding support and supplies, and gestational diabetes screening.

Pingree pointed out that women often go without these and other preventive services due to the cost, and the change will allow women to partake of these important health services without copays or co-insurance costs.

In addition to saving women money, these services should save insurance companies money in the long-term with coverage of screenings for breast and cervical cancer as well as smoking and alcohol cessation. If cancer is detected early, it can often be treated and eradicated, saving insurance companies from paying bills for costly medications and treatments for years at a time ”“ not to mention the lives being saved.

Smoking and alcohol cessation also has countless savings for women and their insurers, reducing a woman’s chance of getting asthma, emphysema and cancer. Getting a woman to quit smoking and drinking also ensures that any of her future children will be spared the birth defects and conditions babies can develop from their mother’s bad habits.

The much-debated Affordable Care Act was in jeopardy of being nullified earlier this summer when the Supreme Court took up a challenge to the law. Since most of the law still stands ”“ thanks to a 5-4 decision authored by Chief Justice John Roberts ”“ citizens around the country will continue to benefit from its immediate changes and others that will be implemented in the coming years.

The immediate benefits include allowing young people to stay on their parent’s insurance plan until age 26 and the elimination of lifetime payout limits. And in 2014, insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage of anyone based on a pre-existing condition. Once the law is fully implemented, more than 30 million people will gain coverage.

Another change touted by Pingree prohibits insurers from charging women more than men for the same services, beginning in 2014. Currently, insurance companies can charge women up to 50 percent more than men for the same coverage, according to Pingree.

Although some changes to women’s health coverage go into effect this week, the rules apply to “new” insurance plans, which means existing plans do not have to make the changes right away. However, the National Women’s Law Center said that according to a survey, 90 percent of all large U.S. companies expect that their health plans will lose grandfathered status by 2014, and “eventually all plans will lose their grandfathered status ”¦ At that point, all plans will cover these important preventive health services without cost sharing,” the center’s website states.

These changes will help those who are insured as well as insurance companies. It’s been proven time and again that investing in preventative care is much more cost-effective than paying for sick people to be treated. Insurance companies should take the opportunity ”“ like those that already do ”“ to offer incentives for people to go to their annual wellness visits, quit smoking, lose weight and take other steps toward a healthy lifestyle.

As elements of the Affordable Care Act continue to be implemented, the country should work toward getting more people on insurance plans ”“ paying into the system ”“ while using less “insurance” as they become more healthy and need fewer medical treatments. Women should lead the way in this effort given the preventative services that will be offered with no out-of-pocket costs in the future.

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Today’s editorial was written by City Editor Robyn Burnham representing the majority opinion of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.