Nearly 20.5 million people -- including 35,000 District of Columbia residents -- with Medicare reviewed their health status at a free Annual Wellness Visit or received other preventive services with no deductible or cost sharing this year, according to a recent report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
In addition, between January and August of this year, nearly 1.8 million people with Medicare received discounts on brand-name drugs in the Medicare Part D coverage gap, also known as the "donut hole. More than 1,300 of the recipients have included D.C. residents.
Also, through August of this year, the total amount of discounts to District residents with Medicare in the donut hole was just over $732,000, with an average savings of $553 per person.
"Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more people with Medicare are getting preventive services like mammograms for free," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "The new health care law is also making prescription drugs more affordable for millions of seniors and people with disabilities."
Some of the free preventive services available to people with Medicare include mammograms and cervical cancer screenings, cholesterol and other cardiovascular screenings and colorectal and prostate cancer screenings.