Welcome to Medicare & You 2012
This is an extraordinary time for health care in our Nation’s history. We are working to make sure you have health care you can depend on care that’s focused on you, and is safe, effective, and timely, at a cost you can a ord.
You may have heard about some of the exciting new changes Medicare has been making to help improve your health care like more free preventive services and lower prescription drug costs. ere are some actions you can take right now to help keep yourself well.
Medicare offers a number of preventive services to help keep you healthy and to and diseases early when treatments work best.
Look at the checklist on the next page and take it with you on your next visit to your doctor or other health care provider.
Use it to review and keep track of the preventive services that are right for you. Our goal is to help you achieve better health, better care, and lower costs.
One important new Medicare bene to offered free of charge is the Yearly “Wellness” visit. This is a chance for you and your doctor or other health care provider to review your health and talk about what you can do to stay as healthy as you can.
To help you gure out what can help you stay well, your clinician may ask you to answer a short questionnaire called a Health Risk Assessment, as part of this visit. For more information about this and other important preventive services, visit www.medicare.gov/share-the-health. is handbook is the best and o cial source of answers to your Medicare questions. We also have other helpful resources for you. Visit www.medicare.gov, or call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) to get speci c answers to your questions. You can also call your local State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP). See pages 137–140 for the phone number. Or visit the Administration on Aging at www.aoa.gov.
