Starting Wednesday, new health insurance plans must cover a host of new preventative services for women at no out-of-pocket cost to patients.
The Preventative Women's Health Care Amendment is a part of President Obama's Affordable Care Act. The eight services were based on recommendations from the Institute of Medicine.
"It will also be illegal finally in America to charge women more than men just because they are women. In other words, being a woman will no longer be a pre-existing condition in this country," said Kathleen Sebelius.
The newly covered services are contraception and sterilization, an annual well woman doctor's visit, breastfeeding support and supplies, diabetes screenings during pregnancy, domestic violence screening, counseling for sexual infections and HIV, and testing for HPV.
Some religious employers are exempted from the new rules and one private company is suing the federal government over its religious objections to contraception.