Medicare Benefits from Affordable Care Act Announced

Annual Wellness Visit: Beginning January 1, 2011, people with Medicare have access to a new ‘Annual Wellness Visit’ where they can receive a comprehensive health risk assessment and develop a personalized prevention plan.

Improved cost-sharing for Medicare preventive services: Also, as of January 1, the Affordable Care Act ( ACA )also eliminates cost-sharing for Medicare-covered preventive services that are recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The services which now have no cost-sharing (if a doctor accepts what Medicare pays for a service as payment in full) include:
-- abdominal aortic aneurysm screening
-- bone mass measurement
-- breast cancer screening/mammograms
-- cardiovascular screening tests (although you generally will have to pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for the doctor’s visit)
-- certain types of colorectal cancer screenings (i.e., flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy)
-- diabetes screening tests (although you generally will have to pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for the doctor’s visit)
-- flu shots
-- Hepatitis B shots
-- HIV screening tests (although you generally will have to pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for the doctor’s visit)
-- medical nutrition therapy services (for those with diabetes or kidney disease, or who have had a kidney transplant in the last 36 months and whose doctor refers them for these services)
-- Pap tests and pelvic exams
-- physical exams – both the “Welcome to Medicare” visit and the annual “wellness visit”
-- pneumococcal shot
-- prostate cancer screening
-- smoking cessation counseling

Smoking cessation counseling: More people are now eligible for the smoking cessation counseling benefit under Medicare. Now all beneficiaries who smoke can take advantage of as many as eight smoking cessation counseling sessions.

To learn more about Medicare-covered preventive benefits, go to: http://www.medicare.gov/navigation/manage-your-health/preventive-services/preventive-service-overview.aspx or contact Northwest Missouri Area Agency on Aging at 888-844-5626