Some Good Obamacare News

New Health and Human Services guidelines on drugs covered under the Affordable Care Act means that certain breast cancer prevention drugs will now be covered as part of preventative care.

Women at increased risk of breast cancer can receive so-called chemoprevention drugs, including tamoxifen and raloxifene, without a co-pay or other out-of-pocket expense.
Under Obamacare, most health insurance companies and employer plans must offer certain preventive services at no cost to patients. 

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network praised the announcement in a statement Thursday. 

"This policy means millions of women at high risk for breast cancer will know they can access proven risk-reducing medications at no cost to them," said spokesman Steve Weiss. "Studies show that even modest cost sharing can keep patients from taking advantage of proven preventive tests and therapies. By making prevention more accessible and affordable, the health care law is helping people stay healthy and avoid the high costs of treatment after diagnosis.”

So yes, preventative care is a good thing, especially when it comes to something as devastating as cancer.   It's certainly less expensive than treating the disease when it's full-blown in the latter stages.  The downside is that many of these chemoprevention drugs have some serious side effects.  Hopefully we'll be able to come up with better ones as well.