One benefit of the Affordable Health Care Act is the inclusion of preventive care regardless if one is receiving Medicare.
Patients are not charged a copayment or coinsurance to access preventive services including blood pressure screening, cholesterol screening, abdominal aortic aneurysm screening, diabetes screening plus an extensive list of other services.
Vaccinations are amongst the services covered. The annual deductible does not have to be met to access these services.
The complete list of preventive services as of January 2014 from healthcare.gov:
- Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm one-time screening for men of specified ages who have ever smoked
- Alcohol Misuse screening and counseling
- Aspirin use to prevent cardiovascular disease for men and women of certain ages
- Blood Pressure screening for all adults
- Cholesterol screening for adults of certain ages or at higher risk
- Colorectal Cancer screening for adults over 50
- Depression screening for adults
- Diabetes (Type 2) screening for adults with high blood pressure
- Diet counseling for adults at higher risk for chronic disease
- HIV screening for everyone ages 15 to 65, and other ages at increased risk
- Immunization vaccines for adults–doses, recommended ages, and recommended populations vary:
- Obesity screening and counseling for all adults
- Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) prevention counseling for adults at higher risk
- Syphilis screening for all adults at higher risk
- Tobacco Use screening for all adults and cessation interventions for tobacco users