If you are over 70, you should also take advantage of preventive health care practices and services that reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease. “After age 75, 79% of women and 71% of men die from heart disease, including stroke,” Flanigan says. “Some studies show if you control your cholesterol risk factors, you may dramatically decrease your risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.”

Working together with your doctor
Your doctor can help you stay healthy by providing preventive care services. “Preventive care services are tools that we use to identify early disease and to identify how much at risk people are,” Flanigan says. These services include screenings for high blood pressure, cholesterol, and certain cancers;  vaccinations, particularly for influenza and pneumonia; and other targeted services or screenings, depending on your current state of health or risk for certain conditions.

Paying for preventive care
Medicare pays for some preventive care services. For example, a one-time preventive physical examination is covered within the first six months that you have Medicare Part B. “An annual physical does not have a reimbursement code from Medicare. Only about 20% of older adults get an annual physical. I favor it because it lets me address patients’ individual needs and concerns,” says Elliott Kroger, M.D., Erickson Health physician at Sedgebrook, an Erickson built-and -managed community in Lincolnshire, Ill.

Once every five years (more often if you have heart disease or are considered high-risk) Medicare covers cardiovascular screenings that check your  cholesterol and other blood fat (lipid) levels. You pay nothing for these tests, provided your doctor accepts the Medicare payment as full payment.

Medicare also partially covers bone density tests to determine if you are at risk for a fracture. You are responsible for 20% of the Medicare-approved cost after your yearly Part B deductible. Medicare will cover the test every 24 months if your doctor says you are at risk for osteoporosis (a disease characterized by thinning bones).

It’s a good idea to have a bone density test to know your fracture risk. One in four men and one in two women over age 50 will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in his or her lifetime. Falling is often associated with fractures, and more than one-third of adults ages 65 years and older fall each year.

A trend toward more preventive care coverage
The costs of preventive care services can add up, whether you have Medicare or private health insurance. Those in the health care industry are starting to pay more attention to the possible cost savings inherent in preventive care. “It makes much more sense for insurers to spend relatively few dollars on a bone density test, plus training classes to prevent an individual from falling, instead of $40,000 to repair their hip fracture,” says Matthew Narrett, M.D., executive vice president and chief medical officer of Erickson Health.

Insurance options like Medicare Advantage plans are increasingly available and becoming more popular with older adults because of their emphasis on preventive health care services and low cost.

“Ultimately, providing good preventive care for older Americans will save money for everyone,” Narrett says.