Consumer Reps Want Checkup for Health Plans' Preventive Services Coverage
The reps hired an outside consultant, Amy Killelea, to look at six separate health plans’ communications about preventive services.
Killelea found that the clarity and completeness of the communications varied widely. Five of the six plans listed colonoscopies as a service available without cost sharing, but only two listed another required service, post-partum depression screening.
Information for providers was fragmented, and each plan had its own rules for which billing codes providers had to supply to have services covered as preventive services, according to the study.
The Plan Perspective
America’s Health Insurance Plans and its members have supported the ACA preventive services coverage provision.
“Every American deserves access to affordable, high-quality coverage and care, including recommended preventive services,” AHIP said in a response to the consumer reps’ new study. “Health insurance providers work with clinicians and patients to encourage them to access recommended preventive services, including needed guidance and coding updates. We are reviewing the report, and we look forward to engaging in more detail.”
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