Seniors who enroll in Medicare next year will have a new benefit that could help them stay healthier. Starting Jan. 1, 2005, all new Medicare beneficiaries will be entitled to a "Welcome to Medicare" physical exam within 6 months of joining the program.

That first visit will allow doctors to check a person's overall health and spend some time discussing healthy lifestyle choices like exercise and proper diet. Doctors can also refer patients for other important preventive tests available under Medicare, including screenings for cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

"We strongly believe this new benefit will help promote prevention and early detection and that it is an important first step to improving screening rates and health outcomes for our nation's seniors," the heads of the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and the American Diabetes Association said in a statement.

RESOURCES: For more details on Medicare benefits, visit the agency's Web site at www.Medicare.gov. Information on preventive services is available in Medicare's "Stay Healthy" section.

The 3 groups lobbied for the new coverage. "It was one of the Society's highest priority issues," ACS senior policy analyst Leticia Flores DeWilde said in an editorial in the journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians (Vol. 54, No. 6:292-294). The new physical will allow patients to talk with their doctors about prevention and screening when they aren't preoccupied with symptoms or treatment for another problem, she noted.

The welcome physical is part of a new effort by Medicare to pay more attention to preventing disease, rather than just treating sick seniors.

"Medicare's coverage and Medicare's expenses have historically focused on paying to treat costly health problems after they occur," said Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. "With Medicare's new support to help seniors use recommended preventive care and prescription drugs to avoid these costly and debilitating problems, that's going to change."

Cancer screenings have been part of Medicare's benefits for many years already. Medicare covers mammograms to look for breast cancer; Pap tests and pelvic exams to screen for cervical and vaginal cancer; colon cancer screening with fecal occult blood tests, sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy or barium enemas; and screening for prostate cancer with a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood test and digital rectal examination.

Beneficiaries will now also be able to receive screening for heart disease (cholesterol and other blood fat tests), diabetes, glaucoma, and weak bones. Vaccinations for flu, pneumonia, and hepatitis B are also covered.