Utah · Medicare · Preventive care in 2026
Medicare Annual Wellness Visit vs. Physical in Utah (2026)
Medicare pays for a yearly “Wellness” visit at $0 and pays nothing for a routine physical. Most people book one thinking they are getting the other. Here is what the visit actually includes in Medicare.gov's words, the one way it turns into a bill, and how many Utahns in each county are using it.
The bottom line
- Medicare does not cover a routine physical. CMS's guidance to doctors calls it “prohibited by statute; patient pays 100% out-of-pocket.” A Medigap policy will not pay for it either, because Medigap only pays alongside a Medicare-approved claim.
- What Medicare does cover at $0 is one “Welcome to Medicare” preventive visit in your first 12 months of Part B, and a yearly “Wellness” visit once every 12 months after that. The Part B deductible ($283 in 2026) does not apply.
- The visit is a conversation, not an exam: history, medications, blood pressure and weight, a cognitive check, fall and daily-living risk, depression and substance-use screening, an offer to discuss advance directives, and a written checklist of the screenings and vaccines you are due for.
- The one way it becomes a bill: anything done in the same appointment that is outside the preventive benefit. Ask for a specific problem to be treated and that part is a regular office visit at 20% after the deductible; ask for a physical and you may owe the full amount.
- Utah uses it more than the country does. In 2024, 94,465 Utahns in Original Medicare had a yearly Wellness visit, 51.5% of those with Part B, against 39.2% nationally. The average Utah clinic billed $280.03 for it and Medicare paid about $120; the patient paid nothing.
- Nearly half of Utahns in Original Medicare still skip it, and the skipped visit is where fall risk, memory changes and the advance directive conversation, all of which shape a long-term care plan, first get written down.
Every autumn, retirees in Ogden and St. George call their clinic to schedule “my Medicare physical,” and every autumn a few of them get a bill they did not expect. The confusion is built into the names. Medicare's first preventive visit is officially the Initial Preventive Physical Examination, its yearly visit is the Annual Wellness Visit, and neither is a physical. This guide uses Medicare.gov's own description of what each visit contains and what it costs, CMS's one-page instruction to doctors on how the three differ, and then something a national explainer cannot give you: CMS claims data showing how many Utahns actually received the visit in 2024, what it was billed and paid at, and county-by-county figures on who is going to the doctor for a checkup at all.
Is the Medicare annual Wellness visit a physical?
No, and Medicare.gov says so in one sentence: the yearly Wellness visit “is a conversation-based visit with your doctor or other health care provider to create a prevention plan. It isn't a routine physical exam.” The purpose is to develop or update what CMS calls a personalized prevention plan, built on a questionnaire called a Health Risk Assessment that you fill out before or during the visit. Your provider then reviews your medical and family history, updates your list of prescriptions and the other providers you see, takes routine measurements (Medicare.gov names height, weight and blood pressure), screens for cognitive impairment, evaluates your risk factors for substance use disorder, offers to talk about advance directives, and hands you a written plan, “like a checklist,” of the screenings, vaccines and other preventive services you are due for. If you take opioid medication, the provider reviews your pain treatment and non-opioid options. New for the visit is an optional physical activity and nutrition risk assessment, a standardized five-to-fifteen-minute questionnaire that is covered at $0 inside the Wellness visit and once every 6 months at 20% coinsurance if it is done at another kind of appointment.
A routine physical is a different thing. In CMS's definition it is an exam “performed without relationship to treatment or diagnosis for a specific illness, symptom, complaint, or injury.” The stethoscope on the chest, the abdominal exam, the reflex hammer, the full panel of blood work ordered because it is that time of year: Medicare Part B has never paid for that as a package, and CMS's guidance to providers states that the exclusion is “prohibited by statute.” What Medicare does pay for, one service at a time, are specific screenings that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and Medicare have approved, most of them at $0, which is exactly what the Wellness visit's checklist is for. The visit is the planning meeting; the screenings are the follow-through.
| Visit | What it is | How often | What you pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| “Welcome to Medicare” preventive visit (Initial Preventive Physical Examination, billing code G0402) | One-time review of your medical and social history, depression risk, functional ability and safety (daily activities, fall risk, hearing, home safety), body mass index, a simple vision test, blood pressure, a written checklist of needed screenings and vaccines, and an offer to discuss advance directives | Once, within the first 12 months you have Part B | $0 if the provider accepts assignment; Part B deductible does not apply |
| Yearly “Wellness” visit (Annual Wellness Visit, G0438 for the first one, G0439 after that) | Health Risk Assessment; review of history, medications and providers; routine measurements; cognitive assessment; substance-use and opioid review; personalized prevention plan and written checklist; optional advance care planning and physical activity and nutrition assessment | Once every 12 months; the first one not within 12 months of Part B enrollment or the Welcome visit | $0 if the provider accepts assignment; Part B deductible does not apply |
| Routine physical examination | Head-to-toe exam performed without relationship to a specific illness, symptom, complaint or injury | — | Not covered by Medicare; CMS: “patient pays 100% out-of-pocket” |
| Problem-focused office visit during or after either preventive visit | Evaluation and treatment of a specific complaint (the knee, the cough, the blood pressure that needs a new prescription) | As needed | 20% of the Medicare-approved amount after the $283 Part B deductible |
Sources: Medicare.gov, “Yearly 'Wellness' visits” — medicare.gov; Medicare.gov, “'Welcome to Medicare' preventive visit” — medicare.gov; CMS Medicare Learning Network, “AWV, IPPE, and Routine Physical — Know the Differences” — cms.gov (PDF); CMS, 2026 Medicare Parts A & B premiums and deductibles — cms.gov.
When can a $0 Wellness visit turn into a bill?
Medicare.gov answers this directly. You pay nothing for the visit if your provider accepts assignment, and the Part B deductible does not apply. “However, you may have to pay coinsurance, and the Part B deductible may apply if your provider performs additional tests or services during the same visit that Medicare doesn't cover under this preventive benefit. If Medicare doesn't cover the additional tests or services (like a routine physical exam), you may have to pay the full amount.” Three situations produce most of the surprise bills.
- You asked for a physical and got one. If the office schedules a “complete physical” and performs the exam, Medicare pays for the Wellness-visit portion and nothing for the exam, and the office may bill you its full charge for the rest. Book the appointment by name: “my Medicare Annual Wellness Visit.”
- A problem got treated in the same appointment. CMS allows a provider who furnishes a Wellness visit and also performs “a significant, separately identifiable, medically necessary” evaluation to bill for the second service. That part is a normal office visit: 20% coinsurance after the $283 deductible in Original Medicare, or your plan's copay in Medicare Advantage. Medicare.gov's advice is to schedule a separate appointment for specific concerns “so your 'Wellness' visit stays focused on prevention.” In practice, if your blood pressure is high that day and the provider adjusts your medication, expect a second line on the statement.
- Labs and tests that are not on Medicare's preventive list. The written checklist you leave with should name covered screenings. A general blood panel ordered “because it's your annual” is diagnostic, not preventive, and is billed under Part B with the deductible and coinsurance. Ask which tests are being ordered as screening and which as diagnostic before you go to the lab.
Two pieces of the visit that sound like extras are not. Advance care planning, the conversation about naming a health care proxy and writing a living will, is covered at $0 when it happens as part of the Welcome or Wellness visit; the same conversation during other treatment carries the deductible and coinsurance. And if the cognitive screen raises a concern, Medicare covers a separate, longer cognitive assessment and care plan visit, which does carry 20% coinsurance after the deductible, to confirm or rule out a diagnosis such as dementia and set up a care plan. That second visit is where many Utah families first hear the words that start a long-term care conversation, which is why we care about the Wellness visit at all.
How many Utahns actually get the Wellness visit?
About half of those who could, which is a better showing than the country as a whole. CMS publishes a public use file of every service billed to Original Medicare, by state and billing code. For calendar year 2024, the latest year released, Utah providers billed 91,411 subsequent yearly Wellness visits and 3,054 first-time yearly Wellness visits, for 94,465 Utahns in all, plus 3,534 Welcome to Medicare visits for people new to Part B. The file counts Original Medicare claims only, so the right denominator is the 183,494 Utahns who had Part B in Original Medicare that year, and the result is a 51.5% use rate. Nationally, 10,981,707 beneficiaries had a yearly Wellness visit out of 27,982,142 with Part B in Original Medicare, or 39.2%. Utah's 241,382 Medicare Advantage members in 2024 (now 268,675 of 488,797 in May 2026) receive the same visit through their plans and are not in this file at all.
Sources: CMS, Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners — by Geography and Service, calendar year 2024, Utah and National rows for HCPCS G0402, G0438 and G0439 — data.cms.gov; CMS, Medicare Monthly Enrollment, Utah and national, 2024 and May 2026 — data.cms.gov.
| Visit (billing code) | Utah, 2022 | Utah, 2023 | Utah, 2024 | Medicare paid per visit, Utah 2024 | United States, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Welcome to Medicare visit (G0402) | 3,508 | 3,401 | 3,534 | $150.03 | 538,019 |
| First yearly Wellness visit (G0438) | 4,843 | 4,681 | 3,054 | $148.28 | 676,883 |
| Subsequent yearly Wellness visit (G0439) | 90,193 | 90,724 | 91,411 | $119.90 | 10,304,824 |
| Any yearly Wellness visit | 95,036 | 95,405 | 94,465 | — | 10,981,707 |
Number of Original Medicare beneficiaries with at least one paid claim for each code, office and facility settings combined; payment is the average Medicare payment in the office setting (the national office average for a subsequent visit was $118.08). Medicare Advantage encounters are excluded. Source: CMS, Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners — by Geography and Service, 2022, 2023 and 2024 files — data.cms.gov.
Two things in that table are worth knowing. The subsequent-visit count has crept up each year even as Utah's Original Medicare population shrank, from 228,523 in 2023 to 224,520 in 2024, so the people who start getting the visit tend to keep getting it. And the money is modest: Medicare paid Utah offices about $120 for a subsequent visit against an average charge of $280.03, which is one reason a busy clinic may try to fold the visit into a problem appointment. You are within your rights to ask that it be scheduled on its own.
Which Utah counties go to the doctor for a checkup?
CMS does not publish Wellness-visit counts by county, but the CDC does publish, for every county in the country, the share of adults who report visiting a doctor for a routine checkup in the past year. The figures below are for all adults 18 and older, not just retirees, so they measure a county's habit of going in rather than Medicare use itself; older adults in every county go more often than the county average. Statewide the range is narrow, from 76.2% in Daggett County down to 68.4% in Cache and Utah counties. The two lowest counties are also the two youngest, which is what you would expect from a measure that includes college-age adults. Among the large counties, Davis (73.2%), Weber (73.1%) and Washington (72.5%) sit above Salt Lake (69.2%) and Utah County (68.4%).
Percent of adults (18+) who visited a doctor for a routine checkup within the past year, twelve selected Utah counties; bars are scaled from 60% to 80% to show the differences. Source: CDC PLACES, county data, 2025 release (2023 BRFSS), measure CHECKUP, crude prevalence — data.cdc.gov.
| County | Adults with a routine checkup in the past year | Medicare beneficiaries, 2024 | In Original Medicare, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daggett | 76.2% | 266 | 179 |
| Garfield | 75.7% | 1,300 | 939 |
| Summit | 75.4% | 7,909 | 4,729 |
| Kane | 75.3% | 2,257 | 1,956 |
| Piute | 75.3% | 456 | 307 |
| Wayne | 75.2% | 703 | 539 |
| Rich | 74.6% | 513 | 302 |
| Millard | 74% | 2,669 | 1,878 |
| Wasatch | 73.9% | 5,527 | 2,761 |
| Box Elder | 73.8% | 9,685 | 4,240 |
| Carbon | 73.5% | 4,833 | 2,939 |
| San Juan | 73.4% | 2,419 | 2,213 |
| Sevier | 73.2% | 4,608 | 2,643 |
| Davis | 73.2% | 47,128 | 22,501 |
| Weber | 73.1% | 40,924 | 19,145 |
| Grand | 72.5% | 2,204 | 1,869 |
| Washington | 72.5% | 46,073 | 23,830 |
| Emery | 72.1% | 2,243 | 1,742 |
| Morgan | 71.8% | 1,889 | 973 |
| Iron | 71.4% | 10,481 | 5,834 |
| Duchesne | 71.3% | 3,689 | 1,952 |
| Beaver | 70.9% | 1,475 | 1,221 |
| Sanpete | 69.7% | 5,438 | 2,943 |
| Tooele | 69.6% | 9,657 | 4,931 |
| Uintah | 69.3% | 5,325 | 3,102 |
| Juab | 69.2% | 1,888 | 1,171 |
| Salt Lake | 69.2% | 159,989 | 70,667 |
| Cache | 68.4% | 16,653 | 6,626 |
| Utah | 68.4% | 67,701 | 30,389 |
| Utah | — | 465,902 | 224,520 |
All 29 Utah counties, sorted by checkup prevalence. Checkup figures are CDC model-based crude prevalence estimates for adults 18 and older from the 2023 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, published in the PLACES 2025 release; Medicare counts are calendar-year 2024 averages from the CMS Medicare Monthly Enrollment file (Original Medicare includes people with Part A only, Part B only, or both). Sources: CDC PLACES — data.cdc.gov; CMS Medicare Monthly Enrollment — data.cms.gov.
What should be on the written checklist you leave with?
The most valuable thing you carry out of a Wellness visit is the written prevention plan, because it converts a vague “stay healthy” into a list of covered services with dates. Medicare.gov's preventive and screening services page lists what Part B covers, and says you pay nothing for most of them from a provider who accepts assignment. The items most Utah retirees will see on their list:
- Flu shot once each flu season, $0 under Part B, and pneumococcal, COVID-19 and hepatitis B vaccines under Part B. The shingles vaccine and other adult vaccines recommended by the CDC's advisory committee are covered under Part D at $0 if you have drug coverage.
- Screening mammogram once every 12 months at $0 (a diagnostic mammogram is 20% after the deductible).
- Bone mass measurement once every 24 months at $0 for people who meet Medicare's risk conditions, more often if medically necessary.
- Colorectal cancer screening by colonoscopy, stool DNA test, fecal occult blood test or blood-based biomarker test, on Medicare's schedule for each test.
- Cardiovascular disease screening blood tests, diabetes screening, lung cancer screening for people who meet the criteria, glaucoma tests, depression screening, alcohol misuse screening and counseling to quit tobacco.
- Diabetes self-management training, medical nutrition therapy and the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program, if you qualify.
Source: Medicare.gov, “Preventive & screening services” — medicare.gov; “Flu shots” — medicare.gov; “Shingles shots” — medicare.gov; “Mammograms” — medicare.gov; “Bone mass measurements” — medicare.gov.
Each of those has its own frequency rule and eligibility condition, and a screening that is repeated sooner than Medicare allows, or ordered for someone outside the covered group, is billed to you. Medicare.gov's standing advice applies to all of them: ask your provider why a service is recommended and what Medicare will actually cover. You can also log in to your Medicare account at Medicare.gov to see which preventive services you are eligible for and when.
How does this work with Medicare Advantage or a Medigap policy?
If you are in Original Medicare with a Medigap policy, nothing changes. The Wellness visit is $0 from Medicare itself, so Medigap has nothing to pay, and the problem-focused portion of a visit is paid by Medicare at 80% with Plan G or Plan N picking up the 20% coinsurance after you have met the Part B deductible for the year (Plan N adds a copay of up to $20 for office visits). A routine physical, though, is outside Medicare entirely, and a Medigap policy pays only its share of Medicare-approved services, so the physical is yours to pay under every Medigap plan letter. Our comparison of Plan G and Plan N in Utah walks through how the deductible and the office copay interact.
If you are in Medicare Advantage, your plan must cover the Welcome and yearly Wellness visits and the other Part B preventive services, and you use the plan's network to get them; Medicare's rules for Medicare Advantage plans do not allow cost sharing for in-network preventive services that Original Medicare covers at $0, so the Wellness visit should show as $0 in-network in your Evidence of Coverage; confirm it there. Many Medicare Advantage plans go further and include a routine annual physical as a supplemental benefit, which is one of the few places the physical is covered at all. Whether that benefit is worth the network and prior-authorization trade-offs is a question for our guide to Medicare Advantage versus Medigap in Utah, not something to decide on the strength of one exam. Read the plan's Evidence of Coverage for the words “annual physical” or “routine physical exam” before assuming it is there.
An Ogden example: what the visit looks like in practice
Consider a retired Weber County school employee, 68, in Original Medicare with a Plan G Medigap policy, who has already met her $283 Part B deductible this year. She calls her clinic in September and asks for “my Medicare Annual Wellness Visit.” The office confirms her last one was more than 12 months ago and mails her the Health Risk Assessment. At the visit, a nurse practitioner records her weight and blood pressure, walks through her medication list, asks about falls in the past year and whether she has trouble with stairs, runs a short memory screen, asks about mood and alcohol, and asks whether she has a health care proxy on file. She does not, so they spend ten minutes on advance care planning, covered at $0 because it is part of the Wellness visit. She leaves with a printed list: flu shot now, shingles vaccine at the pharmacy under Part D, screening mammogram due in November, bone density scan due next spring. Her statement shows the Wellness visit paid in full by Medicare and $0 due.
Now change one detail. During the visit she mentions that her knee has been swelling. The nurse practitioner examines it, orders an X-ray and prescribes an anti-inflammatory. That is a separately identifiable, medically necessary service, so the clinic bills a problem visit alongside the Wellness visit. Medicare pays 80% of the approved amount for the office visit and the X-ray, and her Plan G pays the remaining 20%, so she still owes nothing; a neighbor in a Plan N policy would owe up to a $20 copay for the visit, and a neighbor in a Medicare Advantage plan would owe the plan's primary-care and X-ray copays. Nobody in that example paid for a physical, because nobody had one.
Why a $0 visit matters to your retirement plan
The Wellness visit is, in effect, an annual audit of the things that decide whether a Utah retirement stays on plan. Medicare requires the Health Risk Assessment to cover your ability to perform activities of daily living, including “physical ambulation (including balance or fall risks),” and instrumental activities such as managing medications and handling finances. That is the same activities-of-daily-living test, in a shorter form, that triggers a long-term care insurance claim, and the same capacities a court weighs when a family asks for a guardianship. The cognitive screen is the earliest formal record of memory change most people will ever have. And the advance care planning conversation is how a health care proxy and living will get done by people who have been meaning to for years. A retiree who has the visit every year has a dated paper trail of function, cognition and wishes; the 89,029 Utahns in Original Medicare who skipped it in 2024 have none. If the checklist ever turns up a fall or a memory concern, our guides to powers of attorney and advance directives in Utah and how long-term care insurance works are the next two things to read.
We help Utah retirees line up Medicare coverage, long-term care protection and retirement income so a diagnosis at a Wellness visit changes the care plan, not the family's finances. Plain English, no pressure. Education, not advice. We do not offer every plan available in your area.
Talk to a planner →Frequently asked questions
Does Medicare cover an annual physical?
No. Medicare does not cover a routine physical exam, and CMS's own provider guidance says the exclusion is written into the statute, so the patient pays 100% of the cost. What Medicare Part B does cover, at $0 when your provider accepts assignment, is a one-time Welcome to Medicare preventive visit during your first 12 months of Part B and a yearly Wellness visit once every 12 months after that. Both are conversation-based prevention visits, not head-to-toe exams. Some Medicare Advantage plans add a routine physical as an extra benefit; check your plan's Evidence of Coverage.
What is the difference between a Medicare Wellness visit and a physical?
A yearly Wellness visit is a planning visit. Your provider reviews your medical and family history, your medications and your other providers, takes routine measurements such as height, weight and blood pressure, screens for cognitive impairment and depression risk, assesses fall risk and your ability to manage daily activities, offers advance care planning, and gives you a written checklist of the screenings and vaccines you are due for. Medicare.gov says plainly that it is not a routine physical exam. A physical is a hands-on examination of your body systems performed without a specific complaint, and Medicare does not pay for it.
Can I be charged for my Medicare Wellness visit?
Not for the Wellness visit itself if your provider accepts assignment; the Part B deductible does not apply. You can be charged if your provider performs additional tests or services during the same appointment that fall outside the preventive benefit. Medicare.gov's example is a routine physical exam, for which you may owe the full amount. If your provider treats a specific problem during the visit, that part can be billed as a separate office visit subject to the 2026 Part B deductible of $283 and 20% coinsurance. To keep the visit at $0, book it as your Medicare Annual Wellness Visit and schedule a separate appointment for specific concerns.
How often can I get a Medicare Wellness visit?
Once every 12 months. Your first yearly Wellness visit cannot take place within 12 months of your Part B start date or within 12 months of your Welcome to Medicare visit. You do not need to have had the Welcome visit to qualify for the yearly visit. Because the rule is a full 12 months rather than a calendar year, a visit on March 10 means the next one is not covered until March 10 of the following year; many offices will not book it a day early.
How many Utahns actually use the Medicare Wellness visit?
About half. In 2024, 94,465 Utahns in Original Medicare received a yearly Wellness visit (91,411 subsequent and 3,054 first visits) and another 3,534 had the Welcome to Medicare visit, according to the CMS Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners public use file. Measured against the 183,494 Utahns who had Part B in Original Medicare that year, that is a 51.5% use rate, compared with 39.2% nationally. Medicare Advantage members are not in that file, so the figures cover Original Medicare only.
Does the Wellness visit include advance directives and a memory check?
Yes to both. Medicare.gov lists a cognitive assessment to look for signs of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, as part of the yearly Wellness visit, and if the provider sees signs of impairment Medicare covers a separate, more thorough cognitive assessment and care-plan visit at 20% coinsurance after the Part B deductible. Advance care planning, the conversation about a health care proxy and living will, is a voluntary part of the Welcome and Wellness visits at no cost to you; if it happens during other medical treatment, the deductible and coinsurance apply.
Sources
- Medicare.gov — Yearly “Wellness” visits (what the visit includes, “isn't a routine physical exam,” once every 12 months, $0 with assignment, when additional services can be billed): medicare.gov — yearly wellness visits
- Medicare.gov — “Welcome to Medicare” preventive visit (components, once within the first 12 months of Part B, $0 with assignment): medicare.gov — welcome to medicare visit
- CMS Medicare Learning Network — “AWV, IPPE, and Routine Physical — Know the Differences” (routine physical “not covered by Medicare; prohibited by statute; patient pays 100% out-of-pocket”): cms.gov — MLN educational tool (PDF)
- CMS — Annual Wellness Visit provider page (Health Risk Assessment minimum elements including ADLs, fall risk and IADLs; billing codes G0438/G0439; separately identifiable services; advance care planning and physical activity and nutrition risk assessment as optional elements with cost sharing waived): cms.gov — annual wellness visit; Initial Preventive Physical Exam provider page (code G0402, one per lifetime): cms.gov — IPPE
- Medicare.gov — Physical activity & nutrition risk assessment ($0 inside the Wellness visit; once every 6 months at 20% otherwise): medicare.gov; Advance care planning ($0 as part of the Welcome or Wellness visit): medicare.gov; Cognitive assessment & care plan services (20% after the deductible): medicare.gov
- Medicare.gov — Preventive & screening services (full list; “you pay nothing for most preventive services” with assignment): medicare.gov — preventive services; Flu shots: medicare.gov; Shingles shots (Part D, $0): medicare.gov; Mammograms: medicare.gov; Bone mass measurements: medicare.gov
- CMS — 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles, November 14, 2025 (Part B premium $202.90; Part B deductible $283): cms.gov — 2026 premiums and deductibles
- CMS — Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners — by Geography and Service, calendar years 2022, 2023 and 2024 (Utah: 3,534 G0402, 3,054 G0438 and 91,411 G0439 beneficiaries in 2024; 1,456 office providers; average charge $280.03 and payment $119.90; national 538,019, 676,883 and 10,304,824): data.cms.gov — physician & other practitioners by geography and service
- CMS — Medicare Monthly Enrollment (Utah 2024: 465,902 beneficiaries, 224,520 Original Medicare, 183,494 with Part B in Original Medicare; national 2024: 27,982,142 with Part B in Original Medicare; Utah May 2026: 488,797 beneficiaries, 268,675 Medicare Advantage; county rows for 2024): data.cms.gov — monthly enrollment
- CDC — PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, County Data, 2025 release (measure CHECKUP, routine checkup in the past year among adults, all 29 Utah counties): data.cdc.gov — PLACES county data
- Utah Insurance Department — Medicare consumer page (Utah SHIP (877) 424-4640): insurance.utah.gov
About this article. Written by the Utah Retirement Income Data Desk and reviewed by Brian Penner, Retirement income & long-term care planner. Educational only — not medical, financial, or legal advice, and not a recommendation of any specific plan or provider. Coverage rules and cost-sharing are quoted from Medicare.gov and CMS as of September 16, 2026; the Utah and national visit counts, payments and use rates are our own tabulation of the CMS Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners and Medicare Monthly Enrollment public use files, and the county checkup figures are CDC model-based estimates, all of which the agencies revise periodically. Whether a particular service is covered, and what you will owe, depends on your coverage, your provider's billing and your eligibility for each screening; confirm with your provider, your plan, or 1-800-MEDICARE before you act. Utah Retirement Income is a licensed independent insurance agency (NPN 16493717) and is not a government agency; we are not connected with or endorsed by Medicare, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Social Security Administration, or any government program, and nothing here should be read as an endorsement by them. We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area; please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-MEDICARE, or your State Health Insurance Assistance Program — in Utah, the Utah SHIP at (877) 424-4640 — to get information on all of your options. A $0-premium Medicare Advantage plan is not free; you still pay the Part B premium ($202.90 a month in 2026 for most people) and the plan's cost-sharing, and a $0 preventive visit can still produce charges for non-preventive services performed at the same time. Long-term care insurance and annuity guarantees depend on the claims-paying ability of the issuing company, with no promise of savings. If you call or text us, you consent to be contacted at the number you provide about your options; message and data rates may apply, and you can opt out at any time by replying STOP.