Medicare Preventive Care Important Resource for Older Adults

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a new report showing that more than 5.5 million Americans with traditional Medicare – nearly one in six people with Medicare – took advantage of one or more of the recommended preventive benefits now available for free, thanks to the Affordable Care Act. Those services include, most prominently, mammograms, bone density screenings, and screenings for prostate cancer.

Roughly 70 percent of Medicare beneficiaries had at least one chronic condition in 2008, while as many as 38 percent had between two and four chronic conditions, and 7 percent had five or more. They see an average of 14 different doctors and fill an average of 50 prescriptions or prescription refills a year.

In 2011, Medicare began covering an Annual Wellness Visit at no cost to Medicare beneficiaries. As part of that visit, beneficiaries and their physicians can review the patient's health and develop a personalized wellness plan.

Over 780,000 beneficiaries received an Annual Wellness Visit between January 1 and June 10. Additionally, more seniors have used the Welcome to Medicare Exam this year: 66,302 beneficiaries had taken advantage of the benefit by the end of May 2011, compared with 52,654 beneficiaries at the same point in 2010, a 26 percent increase.

A renewed push toward prevention is the latest step toward CMS's fulfillment of its “Three-Part Aim: Better care and better health at lower cost through improvement in health care.”

“Even in your 70s, 80s, or beyond you can reduce your risk of disability and chronic illness if you take care of yourself,” said CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, M.D. With the new free Annual Wellness Visits and free preventive care, people with Medicare have the tools to take common-sense steps to control their health."

Preventing chronic disease among the Medicare population would not only improve their health and quality of life, it could help save an estimated two-thirds of the $2 trillion the U.S. spends treating preventable long-term illness today.

It also may be time for your parents to seek out assistance in their homes. The local Home Instead Senior Care^® office can help by providing CAREGivers^SM who are screened, trained, bonded and insured.

 To learn more about prevention, go to www.Medicare.gov or www.healthcare.gov.