Medicare Coverage: 3 Preventive Services You Have to Pay For

It can be a lot less trouble—and cheaper—to prevent health problems than to treat them. So Medicare fully covers many preventive health services, including certain tests, obesity and smoking counseling, and depression screening. But there are a few preventive services you have to pay for.

In a column about what’s free and what’s not, Savvy Senior reports:

Medicare also offers several other preventive services that require some out-of-pocket cost-sharing. With these tests, you’ll have to pay 20 percent of the cost of the service (Medicare picks up the other 80 percent), after you’ve met your $147 Part B yearly deductible. The services that fall under this category include digital rectal exams for prostate cancer, glaucoma tests, and diabetes self-management training services.

Still, it’s good to know what’s available, even if it’s not completely paid for, so the column tells where you can see all the preventive services—free or not.