ATLANTA (WAOK) -  A new phase of the Affordable Care Act took effect yesterday and will require new insurance plans to cover a large part of women’s preventive health care services.

As of Wednesday, health insurers will now be required to provide eight preventative services to women nationwide for free.

The law requires new private insurance to cover basic preventive care without any out-of-pocket cost.

Services include such things as birth control, cancer screenings, well-woman visits and counseling for sexually transmitted diseases just to name a few.