Beginning September 23, a new national law will require health insurance companies to cover many forms of preventive care free of charge. Under the new rules, co-payments, deductibles, and all other charges will be eliminated for health interventions designed to catch diseases before they develop into serious conditions. Some of the services that the law will cover include medical tests for blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol, screenings for cancer, HIV, obesity, and depression, routine vaccinations, prenatal care, regular wellness visits for infants and children, and counseling to help people stop smoking. One of the main motivations for the law is that people currently use only half as much preventive care as experts recommend. Read more.

The US government launched www.healthcare.gov, a new resource that will help people understand their health insurance options and find plans that fit their needs. The website is the first to publicly compile a database of 1,000+ health insurance plans, both public and private, and has a search feature that will allow users to identify the best plan for them in their home state. The site also has resources to help users understand more details related to healthcare reform (the Affordable Care Act) and learn about preventative healthcare,  including a tool informing users of which medical tests to talk to their doctors about based their age and sex. Read more.

Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced that health insurance providers will be required to allow children to remain on their parents’ insurance plan until age 26 if health insurance is not provided through their place of employement. This provision, outlined in the Affordable Care Act, was scheduled to go into effect in September, but the Administration wanted the new ruling to go into effect sooner so that young adults graduating from college this year would not have to go without health coverage during the summer months. Read more.