Adolescent Preventive Care After the Affordable Care Act

Comparison of past-year well visits and preventive services received by adolescents before (2007-2009) and after the ACA was implemented (2012-2014) using national survey data collected from adult caregivers (mostly parents) of adolescents.

Annual well-visit rates increased from 41 percent before the ACA to 48 percent after the ACA, with the biggest gains among minority and low-income adolescents; among adolescents who had any past-year health care visit, there were increases of from 2 to 9 percent for 8 of 9 preventive services and results did not change after accounting for demographic factors.

Source: Eurekalert