Preventive care: 22 services for better health

Did you know most private health plans cover 22 different preventive care exams, screenings and services for free?¹

• (These services are free only when delivered by a doctor or other provider in your plan’s network).

Preventive care helps keep you healthy and address any health concerns or issues before they become bigger problems.

And if it’s free (thanks to the Affordable Care Act), you’re more likely to get it right?²

Think about it like this: An apple a day keeps the doctor away. That’s the goal of preventive care.

Here’s a snapshot of the 7 types of free preventive care services most private health plans offer:

What is preventive care?

Routine health care that includes screenings, check-ups, and patient counseling to prevent illnesses, disease, or other health problems.³

Here are a couple examples of the power of preventive care…

Example 1: Cancer prevention

Did you know…women over the age of 50 are encouraged to get regular mammograms to screen for breast cancer?⁴

• The problem. Close to 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer over a lifetime.
• The disease can be treated with much greater success if it’s caught in its early stages.
• When breast cancer is caught in its earliest, localized stages, the 5-year relative survival rate is 99%

It’s also important to screen for other forms of cancer, like:⁵

• Colorectal cancer
• Cervical cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Lung cancer

Cancer screenings are simple procedures that could save years of your life.

Example 2: Treat mental health issues

Here’s another type of preventive care covered by most private health plans: a depression screening.

You might be depressed if you’re:

• Always tired or fatigued
• Not eating or eating too much
• Thinking or talking about suicide

If you’ve experienced any of these things, make an appointment for a free depression health screening. It’s the first step to find out what’s going on, and get help through counseling, medication, and lifestyle changes to treat and manage depression.

Depression and other mental illnesses are incredibly prevalent in America (more than 1 in 5 people in the U.S. have a mental illness).⁶ But they can be treated with proper care, as long as they’re identified.

Example 3: Address alcohol abuse

• Are you drinking too much alcohol?
• Do you feel like you need to drink just to get through the day?
• Have you tried to stop drinking or cut back, but you can’t?
• Has alcohol impacted your work, family, relationships, or ability to handle tasks of daily living?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these, get help. It’s a simple process to head to the doctor, let a professional evaluate your alcohol use, and provide treatment and counseling if you need it.

How much does preventive care cost?

Nothing if you see an in-network provider for one of 22 free preventive care exams, screenings, or services. Cost is one of the biggest reasons people avoid going to the doctor. But it doesn’t have to be.

Under the Affordable Care Act…

Most health plans are required to provide certain preventive health services for free.⁷  Why?

• Before the Affordable Care Act, many Americans chose to delay or skip important preventive care services because of cost. But long-term that only made healthcare costs go up.
• The Affordable Care Act makes paying for preventive care as easy as possible — so easy, in fact, that you don’t have to do it!

For preventive care services…

• You don’t have to make a copayment
• You don’t have to pay coinsurance
• You don’t even need to meet your plan’s deductible

For most health plans, you don’t have to pay anything for preventive care services.

Preventive care: 22 free exams, screenings & services 

What kinds of preventive care are covered by most health plans?¹

Most plans cover these 22 exams, screenings and services for free:

1. Abdominal aortic aneurysm one-time screening
2. Alcohol misuse screening and counseling
3. Aspirin use to prevent cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer for men and women of certain ages
4. Blood pressure screening
5. Cholesterol screening
6. Colorectal cancer screening for adults 45 to 75
7. Depression screening
8. Diabetes (Type 2) screening for adults 40 to 70 years who are overweight or obese
9. Diet counseling for adults at higher risk for chronic disease
10. Falls prevention (with exercise or physical therapy and vitamin D use) for older adults
11. Hepatitis B screening for people at high risk
12. Hepatitis C screening for adults age 18 to 79 years
13. HIV screening for everyone age 15 to 65, and other ages at increased risk
14. PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) HIV prevention medication for HIV-negative adults at high risk for getting HIV through sex or injection drug use
15. Immunizations for adults

• Chickenpox (Varicella)
• Diphtheria Flu (influenza)
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis B
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
• Measles
• Meningococcal
• Mumps
• Whooping Cough (Pertussis)
• Pneumococcal
• Rubella
• Shingles
• Tetanus

16. Lung cancer screening for adults 50 to 80 at high risk for lung cancer because they’re heavy smokers or have quit in the past 15 years
17. Obesity screening and counseling
18. Sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention counseling for adults at higher risk
19. Statin preventive medication for adults 40 to 75 at high risk
20. Syphilis screening for adults at higher risk
21. Tobacco use screening for all adults and cessation interventions for tobacco users
22. Tuberculosis screening for certain adults without symptoms at high risk

Find the right health plan with preventive care 

Looking for a health plan with the coverage you need and free preventive care?

• Licensed insurance agents can help you find health plans that include free preventive care to help you get healthy and stay healthy.
• For more information, give us a call at (800) 827-9990, find an agent in your area, or compare plans online.