Did you know viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver, causes more than 1 million deaths per year worldwide? That\u2019s about the same number of deaths caused by tuberculosis and HIV combined.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, Medicare can help protect you from Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, the most common types of viral hepatitis in the United States.<\/p>\n
Hepatitis is contagious. The Hepatitis B virus, for example, spreads through contact with the blood or other body fluids of an infected person. People can also get infected by coming in contact with a contaminated object, where the virus can live for up to seven days.<\/p>\n
Hepatitis B can range from being a mild illness, lasting a few weeks (acute), to a serious long-term illness (chronic) that can lead to liver disease or liver cancer.<\/p>\n
Medicare Part B covers\u00a0Hepatitis B shots, which usually are given as a series of three shots over a six-month period. You need all three shots for complete protection.<\/p>\n
Medicare covers these shots for people at medium or high risk for Hepatitis B.<\/p>\n
Risk factors include hemophilia, end-stage renal disease, diabetes, if you live with someone who has Hepatitis B, or if you\u2019re a health care worker and have frequent contact with blood or body fluids. Check with your doctor to see if you\u2019re at medium or high risk for Hepatitis B.<\/p>\n
You pay nothing for Hepatitis B shots if your doctor or other qualified health care provider accepts Medicare payment.<\/p>\n
Medicare also covers a one-time\u00a0Hepatitis C screening test\u00a0if your primary care doctor or practitioner orders it and you meet one of these conditions:<\/p>\n
You\u2019re at high risk because you have a current or past history of illicit injection-drug use;<\/p>\n
You had a blood transfusion before 1992;<\/p>\n
You were born between 1945 and 1965.<\/p>\n
Medicare also covers yearly repeat screenings for certain people at high risk.<\/p>\n
Medicare will only cover Hepatitis C screening tests if they\u2019re ordered by a primary-care doctor or other primary-care provider. You pay nothing for the screening test if the doctor or other qualified health care provider accepts Medicare payment.<\/p>\n
Hepatitis shots and screening are among the many preventive-health services that Medicare helps pay for. These screenings and tests help detect preventable and chronic diseases early, in their most treatable stages.<\/p>\n
Here are some other preventive-health measures Medicare covers:<\/p>\n
Alcohol misuse screening and counseling;<\/p>\n
Bone mass measurement (This test checks whether you\u2019re at risk for broken bones);<\/p>\n
Breast cancer screening (mammograms):<\/p>\n
Cardiovascular disease screening (This includes blood tests that help detect conditions that may lead to a heart attack or stroke);<\/p>\n
Cervical and vaginal cancer screening;<\/p>\n
Colorectal cancer screening (This helps find precancerous growths or cancer early, when treatment is most effective);<\/p>\n
Diabetes screening and diabetes self-management training;<\/p>\n
Flu and pneumococcal shots;<\/p>\n
Glaucoma tests;<\/p>\n
HIV screening;<\/p>\n
Lung cancer screening;<\/p>\n
Obesity screening and counseling;<\/p>\n
Prostate cancer screening;<\/p>\n
Smoking and tobaccouse cessation counseling (to help you stop smoking or using tobacco products).<\/p>\n
You pay nothing for most Medicare-covered preventive services if you get the services from a doctor or other qualified health care provider who accepts Medicare payment.<\/p>\n
However, for some preventive services, you may have to pay a deductible, coinsurance, or both. These costs may also apply if you get a preventive service in the same visit as a non-preventive service.<\/p>\n
Greg Dill is Medicare\u2019s regional administrator for Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Pacific territories. You can always get answers to your Medicare questions by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Did you know viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver, causes more than 1 million…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[55,961,67,492],"class_list":["post-282462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-health-2","tag-hiv","tag-people","tag-test"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282462\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}