Here is a benefit worth a second look. Once a year, Medicare Part B covers a visit with a single purpose: building a plan to help you stay healthy. You pay nothing for it when your provider accepts Medicare assignment, and the Part B deductible doesn’t apply.
Yet a national study of Medicare claims, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, found that only about 37% of Medicare enrollees 65 and older had one in 2019. That left more than 6 in 10 without one that year. Researchers say use has been increasing since the benefit began in 2011, but plenty of people still skip a visit Medicare already covers.
Medicare calls it the yearly “Wellness” visit and describes it as a conversation-based visit with your doctor or other health care provider to create a prevention plan. Here is what it includes, and how to avoid a surprise bill.
Who Can Get It
In your first 12 months with Part B, Medicare covers a one-time “Welcome to Medicare” preventive visit. Once you’ve had Part B for more than 12 months, and it’s been at least 12 months since any welcome visit, you can get a yearly Wellness visit once every 12 months. You don’t need to have had the welcome visit to qualify.
What Happens During the Visit
You’ll start with a questionnaire called a Health Risk Assessment, which you can fill out before or during the visit. Federal rules say it should take no more than 20 minutes. It asks about things like your mood, stress, loneliness, physical activity, nutrition, alcohol and tobacco use, home safety, and everyday activities, including balance.
From there, the visit includes:
- Routine measurements like weight and blood pressure, plus height at your first visit.
- A review of your medical and family history and your current prescriptions.
- A cognitive assessment that looks for signs of trouble with memory, thinking, or decision-making.
- A written checklist of the screenings, vaccines, and other preventive services you need, based on national expert recommendations. It can cover the next 5 to 10 years.
- Personalized advice, with referrals if helpful, for things like physical activity, nutrition, fall prevention, weight loss, or quitting smoking.
Your first wellness visit goes a bit further, with a check on your hearing, fall risk, and home safety, and a review of risk factors for depression.
Your provider will also offer to talk with you about advance directives, the legal documents that record your wishes for future medical care. You pay nothing for that conversation when it’s part of this visit and your provider accepts assignment. Your provider may also offer an optional physical activity and nutrition assessment.
The Memory Check Is Worth Speaking Up About
Medicare requires every wellness visit to include a check for cognitive impairment. Under Medicare’s rules, that check can be based on what your provider observes directly, along with anything you or your family mention.
In a national survey published in 2025 in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, about 3 in 10 people who had a wellness visit said their most recent one included formal cognitive testing.
If you’ve noticed changes in your memory, or someone close to you has, say so during the visit. Checking for those changes is part of what the visit is for.
If your provider thinks there may be a problem, Medicare covers a separate visit for a more thorough review, and you can bring a spouse, friend, or caregiver along to help listen and answer questions. That follow-up visit does have costs: after you meet the Part B deductible, you pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount.
How to Avoid a Surprise Bill
- Ask for it by name. When you call to book, say you’d like your yearly “Wellness” visit. Medicare gives the same advice for its first-year welcome visit.
- Save other concerns for another day. If you have a specific health problem to discuss, Medicare suggests scheduling a separate appointment so the wellness visit stays focused on prevention. Memory changes are the exception, since checking for them is built into the visit.
- Know what can add cost. If your provider performs extra tests or services during the same visit, you may owe coinsurance, and the Part B deductible may apply. If something Medicare doesn’t cover gets added, like a routine physical exam, you may have to pay the full amount.
- Ask first. Medicare’s own advice is to ask your provider how much a test, item, or service will cost.
If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, federal rules say the plan can’t charge deductibles, copays, or coinsurance for Medicare-covered preventive services, including this visit, when you see an in-network provider. Extra tests or services added during the visit may still carry costs under your plan, so ask first there too.
What to Bring
Medicare’s checklist for its welcome visit works well here too:
- Your medical records, including your vaccination records.
- A list of every prescription drug, over-the-counter medicine, vitamin, and supplement you take, how often you take each one, and why.
It also helps to bring the names of the other doctors and specialists you see, plus any family health history you know. The visit includes building and updating both.
The Bottom Line
Once a year, Medicare covers a visit built around one question: what will help you stay well? You leave with a written plan for the screenings and vaccines ahead.
Book it by name. Bring your list. Speak up about any changes in your memory. Then book next year’s visit for at least 12 months after this one.
