Since 2013, the Affordable Care Act has included Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) screening for women ages 14-46 as a preventive health service. This means a service that insurance plans are required to cover without a copayment, coinsurance, or deductible (womenshealth.gov, 2013). An IPV screening is recommended for those female adolescents and women who do not show “obvious signs of physical or sexual abuse” (Morin, 2013). If abuse is confirmed, physicians are required to ask about the patient’s immediate safety, discuss possible relationship of current or previous intimate violence with patient’s health concerns, and connect patients to support services and resources (Morin, 2013; womenshealth.gov, 2013).
This is a huge step forward for women's healthcare but one question we should be asking is why does Obamacare only cover IPV screenings for women ages 14-46? The answer is simply that there is currently insufficient evidence to recommend broader screenings (Morin, 2013). So what can be done to include more women in this coverage? More research is required.
References
Morin, M. (2013). Doctors urged to screen women for domestic abuse. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/21/science/la-sci-domestic-violence-screening-20130122
Womenshealth.gov (2013). Health care providers’ role in screening and counseling for interpersonal and domestic violence. ePublications: Screening and Counseling Fact Sheet. Retrieved from http://womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/screening-counseling-fact-sheet.html
This is a huge step forward for women's healthcare but one question we should be asking is why does Obamacare only cover IPV screenings for women ages 14-46? The answer is simply that there is currently insufficient evidence to recommend broader screenings (Morin, 2013). So what can be done to include more women in this coverage? More research is required.
References
Morin, M. (2013). Doctors urged to screen women for domestic abuse. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/21/science/la-sci-domestic-violence-screening-20130122
Womenshealth.gov (2013). Health care providers’ role in screening and counseling for interpersonal and domestic violence. ePublications: Screening and Counseling Fact Sheet. Retrieved from http://womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/screening-counseling-fact-sheet.html