Statement by Ms. Foundation President and CEO Anika Rahman About Affordable Care Act Preventive Health Services Provisions Taking Effect Aug. 1

NEW YORK, July 31, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Aug. 1 marks an important milestone for the Affordable Care Act and, more importantly, for women across the U.S. New insurance plans will be required to cover eight critical women's preventive health services with no co-pay. Specifically, the no-co-pay benefits include:

• Screening for gestational diabetes
• Breastfeeding supplies and counseling
• Intimate partner violence screening and counseling
• Sexually transmitted infection counseling
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing for women 30 years and older
• HIV screening and counseling
• Well-woman visits
• FDA-approved contraception methods and contraceptive counseling

"For many women, costly co-pays stand in the way of essential health care services and contraception," said Ms. Foundation for Women President and CEO Anika Rahman. "Removing that barrier not only ensures better health outcomes, but also reduces the economic hardship on women and families."

About the Ms. Foundation for Women
The Ms. Foundation for Women is the leading national social justice foundation committed to building women's power to ignite change. Every day, it helps over 150 grassroots organizations across the US fight for changes like good paying jobs, reproductive health, ending violence against women and girls, and the inclusion of women at decision-making tables. By investing in social justice trailblazers—especially women from low-income communities and communities of color most affected by injustice—it works for a nation in which power and possibility are not limited by gender, race, class, or any other factor. The Ms. Foundation delivers funding, builds skills, develops leaders, connects activists with allies, and amplifies the voices of our grantees to create change that benefits women, families and communities. ms.foundation.org

SOURCE Ms. Foundation for Women