There was an uptick in preventive screening resulting from Affordable Care Act (ACA), yet cancer-screening rates in the United States remain below Healthy People 2020 goals. More people received screenings to prevent cancer and heart disease in 2015 than in 2012, according to a March 2017 data brief from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), although the growth in screening was not consistent. The ACA was intended to improve access to health care through both greater numbers of insured and coverage of "essential health benefits" (certain clinical preventive services) without copayments. Two studies led by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) used 2015 National Health Interview Survey to assess utilization of screening services in a nationally representative adult civilian population. Actual screening rates were compared to the estimated number who should be screened based upon recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force or national targets from Healthy People 2020. Colonoscopy: In 2015, just under two-thirds of insured adults aged 50 to 75 years were screened for colorectal cancer within the recommended intervals. This is up substantially from the colonoscopy rate of 49.1 percent the CDC reported in 2010. In the second study, published […]