This is a guest blog from our partners at Raising Women’s Voices.

Independence Day was almost two weeks ago, but don’t put away the fireworks! On August 1, American women are going to see an incredible win for our health that deserves celebrating too. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, new insurance plans must start covering key preventive services like well-woman exams, breast feeding supplies, and birth control, without additional co-pays. Women will not only be able to access the services we need to stay healthy, but many of us, for the first time, will actually be able to afford them.

Preventive care is crucial to preventing disease and disability, and to ensuring that women live longer and healthier lives. More than 50 percent of women have delayed seeking medical care due to cost. With the elimination of co-pays for key services, many women will no longer need to decide between paying the rent or getting the care we need.

width=In celebration of this new coverage without co-pays, Raising Women’s Voices will be leading a national push to celebrate the new services called “What’s in it for Women?” Each day, from July 26 to August 1, we will be highlighting a different preventive health service covered by this rule. We will have an infographic on our Facebook page and blog entries from women’s health experts on our website. We will also be celebrating these services on Twitter using the hashtag #Aug1. Here is the schedule and specific service to be celebrated, for the upcoming week:

Thursday, July 26: Annual Well-Woman Visit Friday, July 27: HIV Screening and Counseling Saturday, July 28: Breastfeeding Counseling and Supplies Sunday, July 29: Domestic Violence Screening and Counseling Monday, July 30: Screening and Counseling for Sexually Transmitted Infections and Human Papillomavirus Tuesday, July 31: Screening for Gestational Diabetes Wednesday, Aug 1: Contraception

Please join us in celebration of the many services women will now have access to without co-pays! It is an important win for women and should be supported far and wide.

–– Maryanne Tomazic, field coordinator, Raising Women’s Voices.