--- title: Obamacare Helped Increase Yearly Mammograms: Study description: While Congress grapples over the fate of Obamacare, a new study finds the plan helped to increase the use of mammography among U.S. women. canonical: https://time.com/4628665/obamacare-mammograms-us-women/ author: Tara John article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-09T16:36:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:37:22.023Z article:section: Health og:title: More American Women Got Mammograms Thanks to Obamacare og:description: The health plan helped cut out-of-pocket costs og:url: https://time.com/4628665/obamacare-mammograms-us-women/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0e03f34102f3b5a/6988b4cba988ca5cbd6ba945/mammograms-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Nurse with young black women having a mammography og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: More American Women Got Mammograms Thanks to Obamacare twitter:description: The health plan helped cut out-of-pocket costs twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0e03f34102f3b5a/6988b4cba988ca5cbd6ba945/mammograms-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # More American Women Got Mammograms Thanks to Obamacare > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Tara John](https://time.com/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Jan 9, 2017 4:36 PM UTC  Nurse with young black women having a mammographyAmbient light Nurse with young black women having a mammographyAmbient light Getty Images by [Tara John](https://time.com/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Jan 9, 2017 4:36 PM UTC While Congress grapples over the fate of [Obamacare](http://time.com/4625127/planned-parenthood-defund-paul-ryan-obamacare/), a new study shows that President Obama’s embattled health care plan helped increase the use of mammography among American women. The [study](https://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2017-01/w-hta010517.php), published in the American Cancer Society’s journal _Cancer_, revealed women across all economic subgroups were more likely to go for a mammogram after Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) was implemented. This was due in part to the elimination of out-of-pocket expenses for the preventative health-care services, according to the study. However colonoscopy, another preventative screening test, did not see any increases. Gregory Cooper, the lead author of the study, and his co-authors looked at claims from Medicare beneficiaries, who were 70 and older, before and after the implementation of ACA. “We wanted to see, as a natural experiment, what happens when you change the financial burden on preventive services,” Cooper, program director of gastroenterology at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, told [CNN](http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/09/health/obamacare-mammography-colonoscopy/). The Republican party and the President-elect Donald Trump have said that they will [repeal and replace](http://time.com/4622026/president-obama-mike-pence-obamacare-dueling-meetings/) Obamacare, but it remains unclear what parts of the act will be replaced. “We don’t know what the future of Obamacare is,” Cooper told CNN. “I haven’t heard anything about preventive services, but I would argue that, even if the program itself is dismantled, that would be a worthy benefit to keep.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4628665/obamacare-mammograms-us-women/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4628665/obamacare-mammograms-us-women/"},"headline":"More American Women Got Mammograms Thanks to Obamacare","datePublished":"2017-01-09T16:36:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:37:22.023Z","description":"The health plan helped cut out-of-pocket costs","url":"https://time.com/4628665/obamacare-mammograms-us-women/","keywords":["Obamacare","politics","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0e03f34102f3b5a/6988b4cba988ca5cbd6ba945/mammograms-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0e03f34102f3b5a/6988b4cba988ca5cbd6ba945/mammograms-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Nurse with young black women having a mammography","caption":"Nurse with young black women having a mammography","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/obamacare/","name":"Obamacare"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4628665/obamacare-mammograms-us-women/","name":"More American Women Got Mammograms Thanks to Obamacare"}}]}] ```