Obamacare has several provisions that effect seniors specifically, including free annual visits and lower prescription costs, as well as special services to keep seniors from being cheated in fraudulent health care scams. What seniors need to know about their free yearly checkup and the free tests that come with it was recently explained by AARP.
The area of health care reform that covers seniors is Medicare, and it provides for Americans aged 65 and older.
Under Medicare, seniors are entitled to a yearly wellness visit free. This free visit is intended so that older Americans can consult their doctor and develop and maintain a plan just for them to stay healthy.
To use this service, seniors are advised to call their doctor’s office and say, “I would like to schedule my free annual wellness benefit,” according to the American Association of Retired Persons’s (AARP) vice president for health, education and outreach Nicole Duritz.
The yearly visit includes free screenings for cholesterol and diabetes, as well as consultation about the patient’s diet.
During this visit, seniors can expect to have their blood pressure checked and be asked questions about their medications, as well as how they have been feeling. Doctors may recommend changes to dosages, flu or tetanus shots, a mammography or colonoscopy (both of which are free under Obamacare), or another procedure.
Seniors are still advised to ask and make sure about who is covering the costs for anything done at the clinic or hospital, according to Duritz, who warned that it may make a difference if the tests are conducted during the free yearly visit or are scheduled for a later visit. The receptionist who handles the scheduling can also answer these types of questions, Duritz noted.
There are other considerations about medical costs as well, Duritz said. For example, if something is discovered during a colonoscopy, during which procedure the patient is sedated, how will the doctor proceed? If the doctor will remove the polyp during that procedure, there will be bill for that removal. These are things seniors are advised to consider and ask their doctors about before anything is undertaken.
Blog by Cheryl Bretton