The essential benefits requirements of the Affordable Care Act include both habilitation and rehabilitation services. Rehabilitation helps a patient regain a lost ability, while habilitation helps them develop an ability that they never had, such as for a child with developmental delays who did not walk or talk when expected. Habilitation services can be provided to inpatients or outpatients and can include physical and occupational therapy and speech and language pathology. (See also: Rehabilitation services.)
