As a means to make America healthier, the health care reform bill includes provisions to provide screenings for cholesterol, diabetes, and blood pressure. These new rules allows for preventative care to be covered under your insurance plan at no additional cost. Under these new rules, if you enroll in a new health plan on or after Sept. 23, 2010, the plan must provide recommended preventive care services without cost-sharing such as co-pays or deductibles.Depending on the type of health plan and other factors such as your age, preventative care will include the following according to sources:· Blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol test· Cancer screenings· Counseling on smoking cessation, weight loss, healthy eating, depression treatments, and reduction of alcohol use· Vaccines for measles, polio, meningitis, and HPV (human papilloma virus)· Shots for flu and pneumonia prevention· Screening, vaccines, and counseling for healthy pregnancies· Well-baby and well-child visits up to the age of 21, as well as vision and hearing, developmental assessments, and body mass index (BMI) screenings for obesity· Mammograms for women over age 40· Pap smears for cervical cancer prevention· Colon cancer screening tests for adults over age 50The plan is designed to create a country which will be healthier. This reform represents a fundamental shift in how you are going to be cared for. This reform will place the focus on how to keep you well rather than how to treat you when you are sick. So many Americans go about their daily lives without knowing the status of their well being. Many of you don’t realize that you have a potential life threatening condition such as high cholesterol until it’s too late. In most cases the co-pays and other out-of-pocket costs to help identify these problems are a stumbling block. This plan will provide you with the means to be tested so you can know where you stand so you can know what to do to correct these conditions before it becomes a serious issue. The reason why the health care reform bill has place an emphasis on preventative care is because chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and others are responsible for seven of 10 deaths among American each year and account for 75% of the nation’s health care spending. According to government estimates between now and 2013, the new preventive care provisions will help an estimated 88 million Americans get preventive care, including those in group and individual plans.What you need to do is check with your employers and their insurance policy about what is covered under those plans, when the plans turn over to a new one the new covered preventive services provisions will take effect. If you have an existing health care plan you are paying for individually, contact them to find what will be the process to implement the provisions of the health care reform bill. In the meantime you are encouraged to go to check out www.healthcare.gov, type in a health plan, and see if preventive care is covered under your current plan. As always to your health!