Medicare Part B covers many preventive screenings, vaccines, counseling services, and wellness visits. Most cost nothing when you meet the requirements and use a provider who accepts assignment.
Part B covers services intended to prevent illness or find health problems early. How often Medicare pays for a service depends on your age, sex, health risks, past results, and medical history.
Examples of Covered Preventive Care
Medicare covers qualifying services such as:
- “Welcome to Medicare” preventive visit
- Yearly “Wellness” visit
- Abdominal aortic aneurysm screening, which checks for a bulge in the large artery in your abdomen
- Bone-density testing
- Cardiovascular and diabetes screenings
- Colorectal, breast, cervical, lung, and prostate cancer screenings
- Depression screening
- Glaucoma screening for high-risk patients
- HIV and hepatitis screenings
- Counseling for tobacco use, alcohol misuse, and obesity
- Medical nutrition therapy for qualifying conditions
- Flu, COVID-19, pneumococcal, and certain hepatitis B vaccines
The “Welcome to Medicare” and yearly Wellness visits are not routine head-to-toe physicals. If a clinician provides diagnostic or treatment services during the same visit, you may have to pay part of the cost of that additional care.
When Is Preventive Care Free?
You pay nothing for most covered preventive services when:
- You meet Medicare's eligibility and frequency rules
- The provider accepts Medicare’s approved amount as full payment, called accepting assignment
- The service is billed as preventive
Costs depend on the particular service. You pay part of the cost of glaucoma screening even though it is preventive. If a polyp or other tissue is removed during a screening colonoscopy, you currently pay 15% of the Medicare-approved amount for the provider’s services, with no Part B deductible. You may also owe a separate amount to the facility. See the colonoscopy rule. Do not assume every finding means you owe 20% after the deductible.
Medicare maintains a complete preventive and screening services list.
Medicare Advantage
Medicare Advantage plans must cover Medicare-required preventive services but may use networks or plan procedures. Some plans add benefits beyond Original Medicare.
When scheduling, ask: “Is this a covered screening for my situation, and what might I owe if additional treatment is needed?” Bring prior screening dates so the office can check frequency rules. Welcome and Wellness visits have their own timing rules.
Medicare policy sources last checked: October 8, 2026.