Preventive Care at No Cost
Stay healthy—annual checkups, vaccinations, and screenings
Be proactive about your health to catch potential health issues while they’re easier to treat. In-network preventive services are 100% covered (free to you) by your Premera plan.
View tip sheet (PDF document)
Explora tus opciones de cuidado preventivo
Encontrarás información acerca de tus beneficios, citas importantes con tu doctor principal y cómo aprovechar de tu plan de salud.
Ver hoja de consejos (PDF document)
How preventive care works
Watch the video on how to choose a primary care doctor and other key ways to use your preventive benefits.
3 ways to stay well & prevent illness
Find an in-network primary care physician. Use the Find Care tool on Premera.com or the Premera mobile app. In-network doctors will reduce your out-of-pocket costs.
Schedule a preventive exam, at no cost. You’re covered for one exam per year. Your doctor may recommend routine cancer screens like mammograms and colonoscopies. It’s best to have preventive visits about 12 months apart.
When signed in, get all your preventive benefit details—learn what’s 100% covered with preventive care. More about preventive services (PDF document).
Primary care: For the whole you
To ensure lifelong and comprehensive care, have a primary care doctor or provider in your corner as your healthcare go-to guide. Primary care providers are point people to coordinate all your care. Learn key reasons to have a primary doctor.
Things to know
Checkups
Annual wellness exams are free in-network.
But if you discuss a symptom, injury, or condition, you may be charged for a regular office visit (not free).
Lab work
Routine bloodwork* at an annual checkup is free.
Other lab work and biopsies are usually covered, but not free.
Check that your lab is in-network to minimize cost.
*Not all bloodwork is routine. Check your benefits or speak with your provider to find out which blood labs are covered, or if there is a cost.
Screenings
Routine screenings for cancer (like colonoscopies) are free in-network.
Skin cancer screenings by a dermatologist are covered, but not free.
If your test is ordered because of a symptom or concern, it is diagnostic. It may be covered, but is not free.
Screening or diagnostic?
The same test—like a colonoscopy—can be either a screening (free) or diagnostic (covered, but not free). How can you tell?
If the test is used to check out a sign, symptom, or health concern, it is diagnostic.
Avoid surprise costs: Ask your doctor if a recommended test is preventive. If they say "no," then it's not free.
Medical conditions
Do you have a diagnosed medical condition? Tests to monitor that condition are diagnostic (not preventive) and will incur costs (not free).
Check that labs and facilities that do doctor-ordered tests are in-network to minimize cost.
Vaccinations
COVID-19 vaccines are free.
Flu shots are free at any pharmacy.
All other routine vaccines are free at in-network doctors' offices.
Travel vaccines (like typhoid) are free at travel clinics or county health departments.
Be proactive—enjoy a healthier future
Watch videos to learn about why and how to take advantage of no-cost preventive care.
Why you need preventive care
What happens in a preventive visit
Common preventive services, screenings and tests
- Wellness annual checkup
- Well-baby and well-child exam
- Breast and colon cancer screening
- Obesity screening and counseling for weight loss
- Birth control, contraception and family planning
- Cholesterol test (for adults based on age or high risk)
In Washington? Head to Kinwell for your preventive care needs.
Kinwell clinics provide care rooted in compassion. At Kinwell, you’ll get more attention and less complexity—and who doesn’t want that from their healthcare team? Some common preventive health needs you can get at Kinwell include:
- Annual checkups / Wellness visits
- Vaccinations
- Recommended screenings
- Behavioral and mental health care
"Free" means no out-of-pocket cost to you. "Covered" means included on your health plan, but with cost shares you pay (like deductibles, copays, coinsurance).
Benefits under your health plan may differ, so refer to your benefit booklet for information on what your specific health plan covers.
Your health plan covers preventive care services as required by state and federal law. For more information, please review the "A" and "B" rated services on the United States Preventive Services Task Force, immunizations recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and preventive care and screening recommended by the Health Resources and Services Administration. See the list on healthcare.gov.