Health Care Choices

Medicare’s preventive services 

The best way for you and the person you’re caring for to stay healthy is to live a healthy lifestyle. You can live a healthy lifestyle and prevent disease by exercising, eating well, keeping a healthy weight, and not smoking. Medicare can help you and the person you’re caring for focus on preventive care.

Medicare pays for many preventive services to keep people with Medicare healthy. Preventive services can find health problems early, when treatment works best, and can help prevent certain diseases or illnesses. Preventive services may include exams, lab tests, and screenings. They may also include shots, counseling, and information to help people take care of their health. 

Medicare helps pay for these preventive tests and services:  

Shots Pneumococcal 

Flu 

Hepatitis B (for people at medium to high risk)

Exams

One-Time “Welcome to Medicare” preventive visit (within the first 12 months of having Part B) Yearly “Wellness” visit

Screenings

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (for people at risk) 

Alcohol misuse (screening and counseling) 

Bone mass measurement 

Breast cancer (mammograms) 

Cardiovascular disease 

Cervical and vaginal cancer

 Colorectal cancer 

Depression Diabetes (for people at risk)

 Glaucoma (for people at high risk) 

Hepatitis C (for certain ages and people at high risk) 

HIV (for people at increased risk) 

Pap test Prostate cancer Sexually transmitted infections (screening and counseling)

Other Preventive Benefits 

Cardiovascular disease (intensive behavioral therapy)

Diabetes self-management training 

Medical nutrition therapy (for people with diabetes or renal disease)

 Obesity (intensive behavioral therapy)