What preventive services does Medicare cover for free?

Which preventive services does Medicare cover?

Medicare.gov describes preventive services as exams, vaccines, lab tests and screenings, plus programs for health monitoring and counseling and education to help you take care of your own health. Medicare Part B covers these preventive and screening services:

• Preventive visits: the one-time “Welcome to Medicare” preventive visit and the yearly “Wellness” visit.
• Cancer screenings: cervical and vaginal cancer screenings; colorectal cancer screenings (blood-based biomarker tests, colonoscopies, computed tomography (CT) colonography, fecal occult blood tests, flexible sigmoidoscopies and multi-target stool DNA tests); lung cancer screenings; screening mammograms; and prostate cancer screenings.
• Heart and blood vessel screenings: abdominal aortic aneurysm screenings and cardiovascular disease screenings.
• Other screenings: alcohol misuse screenings and counseling, bone mass measurements, depression screenings, diabetes screenings, glaucoma screenings, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection screenings, hepatitis C virus screenings, HIV screenings, and sexually transmitted infections screenings and counseling.
• Counseling, therapy and programs: cardiovascular disease (behavioral therapy), counseling to prevent tobacco use and tobacco-caused disease, diabetes self-management training, medical nutrition therapy services, the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program and obesity behavioral therapy.
• HIV prevention: pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention.
• Vaccines (shots): COVID-19, flu, hepatitis B and pneumococcal vaccines.

Which Medicare preventive services are free?

You pay nothing for most preventive services if you get them from a health care provider who accepts assignment, meaning the provider agrees to be paid directly by Medicare, to accept the amount Medicare approves for the service, and not to bill you for more than the Medicare deductible and coinsurance.

For many services, Medicare.gov states the cost as nothing if your provider accepts assignment, including cardiovascular disease screenings, diabetes screenings, cervical and vaginal cancer screenings, hepatitis C screenings, abdominal aortic aneurysm screenings, depression screenings, bone mass measurements, lung cancer screenings, and flu, COVID-19, pneumococcal and hepatitis B vaccines. For PrEP for HIV prevention, medical nutrition therapy services and the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program, Medicare.gov says you pay nothing if you qualify.

Each service has its own eligibility rules and schedule. Your doctor may recommend services that Medicare doesn't cover, or more often than Medicare covers them, which could mean extra costs for you, so ask why a service is recommended and what Medicare will cover. Separate answers explain the rules for cholesterol tests, diabetes screening, Pap smears and pelvic exams, colonoscopies and mammograms.

Which Medicare preventive services can cost me money?

Some preventive services, and some services that come up during them, carry Part B cost-sharing. The Part B deductible is $283 in 2026.

• Glaucoma screenings: 20% of the Medicare-approved amount after the Part B deductible, plus a copayment in a hospital outpatient setting.
• Diabetes self-management training: 20% of the Medicare-approved amount after the Part B deductible.
• Prostate cancer screenings: you pay nothing for the PSA blood test, but the digital rectal exam costs 20% of the Medicare-approved amount after the Part B deductible, plus a separate hospital visit copayment in a hospital outpatient setting.
• Screening colonoscopies and flexible sigmoidoscopies: if your provider finds and removes a polyp, lesion, growth or other tissue, you pay 15% of the Medicare-approved amount for your provider's services, and in a hospital outpatient setting or ambulatory surgical center you also pay the facility a 15% coinsurance; the Part B deductible doesn't apply.
• Mammograms: baseline and screening mammograms cost nothing if your provider accepts assignment, but for diagnostic mammograms you pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount after the Part B deductible.
• Extra tests or services during a “Welcome to Medicare” or yearly “Wellness” visit: you may pay coinsurance and the Part B deductible, or the full amount if Medicare doesn't cover them.
• A screening EKG you get with a referral from your “Welcome to Medicare” visit: 20% of the Medicare-approved amount after the Part B deductible, plus a hospital copayment if you have the test at a hospital or a hospital-owned clinic.

Does Medicare cover vaccines that aren't on the Part B list?

Yes, through Medicare drug coverage (Part D). Part D covers all adult vaccines recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) that aren't covered under Part B, including the vaccines for shingles, RSV, whooping cough and measles, and your Part D plan won't charge you a copayment or apply a deductible for vaccines ACIP recommends. See Medicare and the shingles vaccine.

How do I find out which preventive services I'm due for?

You can log in to your secure Medicare account on Medicare.gov to check your preventive services. At your “Welcome to Medicare” preventive visit and at each yearly “Wellness” visit, your provider gives you a written plan, like a checklist, letting you know what screenings, vaccines and other preventive services you need. See what happens at a Medicare annual wellness visit.

Does Medicare Advantage cover preventive services?

Yes. If you're in a Medicare Advantage Plan or other Medicare plan, your plan may have different rules, but it must give you at least the same coverage as Original Medicare. Plans may have different out-of-pocket costs for certain services and may require you to use providers in the plan's network for non-emergency care, so check with the plan about where to get preventive services and what you pay.