Medicare Part B
Medicare is a federal health insurance program designed to assist the nation's
elderly to meet hospital, medical, and other health costs. Medicare is available
to people in the U.S. who are 65 and older as well as some younger people with
disabilities and is a different program than Medicaid, which offers health and
other services to eligible low-income people of all ages
Medicare Part B covers 2 types of services:
- Medically necessary services: Services or supplies that are needed to diagnose or treat your medical condition and that meet accepted standards of medical practice.
- Preventive services: Health care to prevent illness (like the flu) or detect it at an early stage, when treatment is most likely to work best.
You pay nothing for most preventive services if you get the services from a health care provider who accepts assignment.
Part B covers things like:
- Clinical research
- Ambulance services
- Durable medical equipment (DME)
- Mental health
- Partial hospitalization
- Limited outpatient prescription drugs
