Medicare Benefits Seniors Often Forget To Use

Medicare covers far more than doctor visits and hospital stays, yet many seniors never use some of the benefits they're already paying for. Free checkups go unscheduled, plan extras go unclaimed, and programs that help pay Medicare costs go unused by millions of people who qualify. Here are 10 Medicare benefits seniors often forget to use, with the numbers behind them, and how to start using each one.

1. The Yearly Wellness Visit

If you've had Part B for more than 12 months, Medicare covers a yearly Wellness visit at no cost to you. It's a planning visit to review your health risks, medications, memory, and fall risk, and to create a prevention plan. It's also one of the most underused benefits: in Vermont, only about one in three Medicare enrollees age 65 and older had a Wellness visit in 2023, and a national study of Medicare claims found that 45% of beneficiaries had one or no Wellness visits over six years.

How to use it: ask your primary care office to schedule your "Annual Wellness Visit" by name.

2. The "Welcome to Medicare" Preventive Visit

New to Medicare? You can get a one-time "Welcome to Medicare" preventive visit within your first 12 months of Part B, at no cost when your doctor accepts assignment. It sets a baseline for your health and a schedule of screenings.

3. Extra Help With Prescription Drug Costs

Extra Help, also called the Part D Low-Income Subsidy, lowers premiums, deductibles, and copays for prescriptions. The Social Security Administration estimates its value at about $6,200 a year, yet the National Council on Aging estimates that roughly 2 million eligible people don't sign up.

How to use it: apply through Social Security, or ask your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) for help.

4. Medicare Savings Programs

These state-run programs can pay your Part B premium, which was $202.90 a month in 2026, and in some cases your deductibles and copays. Yet millions miss out: NCOA has estimated that about 2.5 million eligible Medicare beneficiaries aren't enrolled.

How to use it: apply through your state Medicaid office; income and asset limits vary by state, and some states count less income than you might expect.

5. Medicare Advantage Extra Benefits

Many Medicare Advantage plans include dental, vision, hearing, fitness memberships, or allowances for over-the-counter items. But a 2024 Commonwealth Fund survey found only about seven in ten Medicare Advantage enrollees used any of their supplemental benefits, which means nearly a third left them unused.

How to use it: review your plan's Evidence of Coverage and use allowances before they reset, often on January 1.

6. Free Preventive Screenings and Vaccines

Medicare covers many screenings at no cost when your provider accepts assignment, including screenings for certain cancers, diabetes, heart disease, and depression. Flu, pneumonia, and COVID-19 vaccines are covered under Part B, and recommended vaccines such as the shingles vaccine have no cost under Part D plans.

7. Help Preventing or Managing Diabetes

If you have prediabetes, Medicare covers the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program, a group program that helps with healthy eating, activity, and weight. If you have diabetes, Medicare covers diabetes self-management training and, for some people, medical nutrition therapy with a registered dietitian.

8. Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation

After a heart attack, heart surgery, or certain heart conditions, Medicare covers supervised cardiac rehab programs, and it covers pulmonary rehab for moderate to very severe COPD. These programs can improve strength and recovery, but many eligible patients never start them, so ask your doctor for a referral.

9. Mental Health and Counseling

Medicare covers a yearly depression screening, outpatient counseling and therapy, and services from licensed professional counselors and marriage and family therapists. Many mental health visits can be done by telehealth from home.

10. Eyeglasses After Cataract Surgery

Original Medicare doesn't usually pay for routine glasses, but after cataract surgery with an intraocular lens, Part B helps pay for one pair of eyeglasses or contact lenses from a Medicare-enrolled supplier, an exception many people don't know about.

Quick Checklist: Are You Using Your Benefits?

Have you had a yearly Wellness visit in the last 12 months?
Are your recommended screenings and vaccines up to date?
Have you checked whether you qualify for Extra Help or a Medicare Savings Program?
If you have Medicare Advantage, have you used your dental, vision, hearing, and OTC allowances this year?
Have you asked your doctor about rehab, diabetes programs, or counseling if they could help you?

Where to Get Help

1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), available 24 hours a day.
Your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) for free, unbiased counseling and help applying for savings programs.
Your plan's member services number, on your insurance card, for questions about Medicare Advantage extras.

For more ways to get the most from Medicare, see Medicare after 70: what changes, our Medicare prescription coverage guide, and what Medicare covers and what it doesn't.

The Bottom Line

Many valuable Medicare benefits go unused simply because people don't know about them. Schedule your Wellness visit, keep up with screenings and vaccines, check whether you qualify for help paying costs, and use your plan's extras before they reset. A few calls could improve your health and save you money.

This article is general information and isn't affiliated with Medicare or any insurance company. Coverage rules can depend on eligibility and on whether your provider accepts assignment. Confirm details with Medicare.gov, 1-800-MEDICARE, or your SHIP.