Perhaps youve had a mammogram recently, or taken a child for an immunization or consulted with a specialist about a weight problem. Since late 2010, those visits to health care providers have carried an additional benefit: Theyre free. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law 28 months ago and upheld in June by the Supreme Court, its illegal for insurers to charge consumers a co-payment for a long list of health care services designed to prevent disease.

In fact, while they have been largely overshadowed by the furor over the requirement that everyone carry health insurance, there are many provisions in the law designed to encourage wellness, fitness and prevention. Its an effort to improve health and reduce the ever-escalating cost of health care.

(ANNA PARINI/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST)

Some measures have been in effect for nearly two years and escaped cancellation when the Supreme Court preserved the law. Others are on the way. Just last week, the controversial regulations on free contraceptives and other preventive care for women took effect.

A large portion of health-care costs are attributable to preventable disease. Federal statistics show, for example, that more than one-third of American adults are obese a condition that carries all manner of health risks, such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. The health-care law tilts heavily toward preventive services and developing new prevention policies.

When you remove cost barriers, people are much more likely to use services and thats been demonstrated for many, many years, said Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation who specializes in health-care reform and private insurance.

The benefits kick in when your health insurance plan changes or is updated. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 54 million people have received free services under the law that previously would have cost them at least a co-payment.

Workplace benefits

Most people will receive the greatest tangible impact of the new law where they work. That only makes sense. Its where most of us get our health insurance, and employers increasingly have been turning to wellness programs to cut costs anyway.

A 2010 study by Harvard University researchers, published in the journal Health Affairs, concluded that medical costs fall by about $3.27 for every dollar spent on wellness programs and that absenteeism costs fall by about $2.73 for every dollar spent. It remains difficult, however, to pinpoint which wellness programs produce the greatest bang for employers buck.

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Obama’s health-care law: The fitness and wellness provisions you may have missed