Most women won't notice until it's time to enroll or re-enroll in a health insurance plan, but as of Aug. 1, insurance companies must now cover a range of women's preventive health care services for free.
The new benefits are part of the Affordable Care Act, which is rolling out in stages.
Services that no longer require a deductible or co-payment include annual well-woman checkups; breast-feeding support; screening and counseling for domestic-partner violence; screening for gestational diabetes; screening for sexually transmitted diseases including HIV; testing for some strains of human papilloma virus; and contraception.
Some faith-based organizations say the contraception mandate violates their religious freedom. Catholic leaders have filed lawsuits against the Obama administration over the requirement that employers provide health coverage that offers free birth control.
