Health insurance shouldn’t just cover catastrophic events. You need it even for day-to-day medical events like prescriptions, checkups, and more. The Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010, labeled ten health care services as essential benefits that all affordable plans should have:
- Preventative services and chronic disease management coverage
- Pediatric care (For children, this includes oral and vision care.)
- Pregnancy, maternity, and newborn care
- Prescription drug coverage
- Labwork coverage
- Coverage for emergency services
- Hospitalization coverage
- Outpatient care (also called ambulatory patient services)
- Mental health services and substance use disorder services
- Coverage for rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices (services to help people recover after injuries or to manage chronic conditions