If you are a senior citizen, you may or may not know that there is a “Welcome to Medicare” physical exam for which Medicare pays 80 percent of the cost.
The reason I said you may or may not know about it is because in 2010, less than 10 percent of senior citizens took advantage of this exam.
However, starting in 2011, Medicare is going to make a stab at getting seniors in for wellness checkups with a new preventative health exam.
This new exam, which offers many preventative screenings and services for free, gets the patients together with their doctors to set up a personalized preventative plan. What’s the biggest part of this prevention? Working out. Dr. Peter Hollmann, Chairman of the Public Policy Committee of the American Geriatrics Society, says that “the single most effective thing you can do to maintain your health, especially in your 70s, is to exercise.”
Yet, Executive Director for the Center for Medicare Advocacy, Judith Stein, still thinks senior citizens might not take up this free service. She said that many seniors just don’t see the benefits of this unless it is strongly suggested by their doctors.
Still, others think seniors may participate because this plan is free.
The exam includes a check of weight, height, and vital signs, then screenings to check for cognitive impairment, functional ability, and even depression.
What’s in this for the doctors, other than possibly having healthier patients? Well, since many seniors don’t do this plan unless it is suggested by their doctor, Medicare decided to give the doctors an incentive. They will get up to $172 for the new plan, as opposed to $136.80 from the old “Welcome to Medicare” plan.
Now all the doctors have to do is convince the senior citizens that they need this checkup, even if they are feeling healthy and well.