Linton
& Associates, LLC, an employee benefits specialist agency serving New
Mexico and the surrounding states, is encouraging women to investigate and take
advantage of new free
health services that are now available thanks to the Affordable Health Care
Act.

Under the new law, insurance companies must now cover more
health services related to women at no cost to the insured. These health
services for women include:

• Breastfeeding support,
  counseling, and supplies;


• Domestic and interpersonal
  violence screening and counseling;


• FDA-approved contraception
  methods, education, and counseling as well as sterilization procedures;


• Gestational diabetes
  screening for pregnant women;


• HPV DNA testing for women
  over the age of 30;


• HIV screening and
  counseling;


• Sexually transmitted
  infections counseling; and


• Annual well-women doctor
  visits.

These will be
available in new health insurance plans, beginning August 2012. Other
preventative care services are being extended to women, men, families and
senior to ensure a better sense of health and well-being.

These
changes, as part of the Affordable Health Care Act, are intended to have people
focus on their health and wellness rather than on the cost as the deciding
factor. According to research supplied by HealthCare.gov, “…chronic diseases – which are
responsible for 7 of 10 deaths among Americans each year and account for 75% of
the nation’s health spending – often are preventable. Cost sharing (including
copayments, co-insurance, and deductibles) reduces the likelihood that
preventive services will be used. Especially concerning for women are studies
showing that even moderate copays for preventive services such as mammograms or
Pap smears result in fewer women obtaining this care.”

Making
certain health services free for women will be a way to encourage more women to
take better care of themselves and equalize the accessibility of health care
for minorities and others that have struggled with obtaining service and have
the highest rates of certain preventable diseases.

About Linton &
Associates, LLC

Headquartered in Albuquerque, New
Mexico, Linton & Associates, LLC serves over 160 employer groups and over
700 individual clients throughout New Mexico as well as the surrounding states.
Established in 1988, the agency’s expert team is familiar with the real estate,
construction, hospitality industry, legal firms and small employer groups,
serving numerous clients in those fields in both small and large organizations
with fully and self-insured plans, Section 125 plans, High Deductible Health
Plans and Health Savings Accounts. Linton & Associates, LLC has built
a network of associations with all the national ancillary carriers in life
insurance, short and long term disability, and retirement plans. For more
information, please visit www.lintonandassociates.com.