If a patient is healthy and does not require exams for pre-existing conditions, will Medicare cover general health counseling, maintenance health screenings or regular physical exams?

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Medicare coverage for preventive care is specific and not all-encompassing. For a healthy adult, only certain defined preventive services are covered with no out-of-pocket cost, and a routine comprehensive physical exam is not one of them. The annual wellness visit is covered and provides a health risk assessment plus a personalized prevention plan, but it is not the same as a full physical exam. General health counseling or maintenance health screenings are only covered when they are part of a defined preventive service (such as components of an annual wellness visit or age/risk-based screenings). So, in a healthy patient who doesn’t need exams for chronic conditions, Medicare typically does not cover general health counseling or a regular physical exam as standalone, outside of the specific, listed preventive services.