Medicare Preventative Benefits in Danger

When the Affordable Care Act was passed several improvements were made to Medicare to increase access to preventative services for people on Medicare. Many co-pays were eliminated and other out of pocket costs were reduced or eliminated entirely. With the current discussion of repealing the Affordable Care Act, these benefits are in jeopardy. Use of prevention benefits, ultimately saves a lot of money for consumers and the government because they help prevent costly hospitalizations.

If you are on Medicare and want to continue to have prevention benefits as part of your Medicare coverage, you should make your wishes known to your elected representatives. They need to know what benefits are important to their constituents so they can make difficult decisions about where to make cuts.

Some of the prevention benefits currently available through Medicare are 1. Screenings for: breast cancer (mammograms), colon cancer, diabetes, depression, glaucoma, lung cancer, and prostate cancer; 2. Exams: New to Medicare and annual wellness visit; and 3. Vaccines: flu, pneumonia and Hepatitis B.

For information to locate your Congressional representative, visit http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/.

For information to locate your state’s senators, visit[BK1] http://www.senate.gov/index.htm.