Does Medicare Cover Advance Care Planning? Georgia (2026)

Medicare pays for a conversation with your doctor about the care you would want in the future if you ever could not speak for yourself. For Georgia beneficiaries, that conversation, called advance care planning, is free when it happens at your yearly Wellness visit, and it is the moment to complete a Georgia advance directive naming who decides for you. This guide explains when Medicare covers it, what it costs if done separately, and how to set up your Georgia directive.

In This Guide

• Does Medicare cover advance care planning in Georgia?
• How to get Medicare advance care planning free in Georgia
• What advance care planning costs if done separately
• What the conversation covers
• The Georgia advance directive
• Advance care planning before hospice
• Where to get help in Georgia
• Frequently asked questions
• Learn More

Does Medicare cover advance care planning in Georgia?

Yes. Medicare Part B covers voluntary advance care planning.1 Advance care planning, often shortened to ACP, is a conversation with your doctor, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or other qualified provider about the medical care you would want in the future if you became unable to make decisions for yourself. The conversation can also include completing an advance directive, which is a legal document that records your wishes, such as a living will or a health care proxy (also called a durable power of attorney for health care).1

Two things make this benefit unusual, and both matter for what you pay:

• ACP is free when it is delivered as part of your "Welcome to Medicare" visit or your yearly "Wellness" visit.1
• ACP costs you the standard Part B share when it is done at any other time, such as after a serious diagnosis or before surgery.1

The conversation itself is the covered service. You do not have to finish, or even start, an advance directive document to have a covered ACP visit. The planning is voluntary, and Medicare says you have the right to carry out your plans as you choose without discrimination.1

How to get Medicare advance care planning free in Georgia

The simplest way for a Georgia beneficiary to pay nothing for advance care planning is to have it during a Medicare wellness visit.

Medicare offers two wellness visits, both covered at $0 when the provider accepts assignment:3

• The one-time "Welcome to Medicare" preventive visit (the Initial Preventive Physical Examination), available in your first 12 months with Part B.3
• The yearly "Wellness" visit (the Annual Wellness Visit, or AWV), covered once every 12 months. Your first one cannot fall within 12 months of your Part B enrollment or of your "Welcome to Medicare" visit.3

When advance care planning is provided as part of one of these visits, Medicare waives both the coinsurance and the Part B deductible for the planning, so you owe nothing.1

On the billing side, that waiver is narrower than it sounds, and the conditions are worth knowing because they are what your doctor's office has to get right. CMS waives the deductible and coinsurance only when the planning is provided on the same day as the covered Wellness visit, by the same provider, billed on the same claim, and flagged as a preventive service. If the Wellness visit itself is denied for exceeding its once-a-year limit, CMS applies the deductible and coinsurance to the planning after all. There is no limit, though, on how many times advance care planning itself can be billed for one patient.1

The practical step is simple: when you schedule or check in for your yearly Wellness visit, tell the office you would like to spend time on advance care planning during that visit. Asking ahead lets the practice set aside enough time so the conversation is not rushed into the last few minutes, and it keeps the planning on the same visit and the same claim, which is what makes it free.

What advance care planning costs if done separately

Advance care planning does not always happen at a wellness visit. It often comes up after a new diagnosis, before a major surgery, or as an illness advances. When ACP is furnished separately from your "Welcome to Medicare" or yearly Wellness visit, the standard Part B cost-sharing applies.1

That means, in 2026, you first meet the annual Part B deductible of $283, and then you pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for the visit, and Medicare pays the rest.2,1

A few ways Georgia beneficiaries lower or eliminate that coinsurance:

• If you have a Medigap (Medicare Supplement) policy, it can pay the Part B coinsurance for you.
• If you are enrolled in a Georgia Medicare Savings Program at the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) level, Georgia describes QMB as paying Medicare premiums, deductibles and coinsurance, so Georgia Medicaid picks up your share of the visit.4
• The other two Georgia Medicare Savings Program levels do not cover this. Georgia describes SLMB and QI as paying the monthly Part B premium only, so if you are in SLMB or QI, a separately billed planning visit still costs you the deductible and the 20%.4

If you are unsure whether your planned visit will be billed as part of your wellness visit or as a separate service, ask the office before you go. It is the difference between paying nothing and paying a coinsurance.

What the conversation covers

There is no required script for advance care planning. A good conversation is shaped around what matters to you, and it commonly touches on:

• Your values and goals for care: what quality of life means to you, and what you would and would not want if you were seriously ill.
• Specific treatment preferences, such as your wishes about resuscitation (CPR), a breathing machine, or feeding tubes.
• Who speaks for you: naming a trusted person as your health care agent (surrogate) to make decisions if you cannot.
• Completing or updating an advance directive so your wishes are written down.
• Education about your options, including palliative care and the Medicare hospice benefit, if those are relevant to your situation.

You can have part of this conversation with family members or your chosen health care agent in the room, which helps make sure the person who may one day speak for you understands your wishes.

The Georgia advance directive

Advance directive rules and forms differ from state to state. You can talk yours through with your health care provider or an attorney, who can help you prepare the documents, and you can update it at any time.1

Georgia uses a single combined document, the Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care, that does two jobs other states often split into separate forms:

• A living will part, where you record your wishes about treatment if you are dying or permanently unconscious.
• A health care agent part, where you name the person (and a backup) who can make health care decisions for you when you cannot make them yourself.

Because one Georgia form covers both, completing it is straightforward. Follow the signing and witnessing instructions printed on the state's own form exactly, because a directive signed the wrong way may not hold up at the moment it is needed. Then give copies to your health care agent, your doctors, and the hospital where you usually receive care, and keep one for yourself.

Georgia also has a separate document for people who are already seriously ill: Physician Orders for Sustaining Treatment, or a POST form. Unlike an advance directive, which records your preferences, a POST form is an actual medical order signed by a clinician that tells emergency responders and other providers what to do. It is meant for people with advanced illness and travels with the patient across home, hospital, and other settings. For most beneficiaries planning ahead, the Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care is the right starting point; a POST form is something your doctor would raise when it fits your situation.

You can download the Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care form for free from the Georgia Division of Aging Services, the state agency that publishes it. Copies are also usually available at your doctor's office or hospital, and the legal-aid organizations listed below can help you fill one out.

Does Medicare cover advance care planning before hospice?

Advance care planning often includes learning about the Medicare hospice benefit, which covers comfort-focused care for people who are terminally ill. To elect hospice, a beneficiary must be entitled to Part A and certified by a physician as terminally ill with a life expectancy of 6 months or less if the illness runs its normal course, and must choose comfort care instead of curative treatment for the terminal illness.5

Advance care planning and electing hospice are separate steps. Having the ACP conversation does not commit you to anything; it simply makes sure you understand your options and that your wishes are on record. Many families find that talking through goals of care early makes later decisions, including whether and when hospice is right, far less stressful.

Where to get help in Georgia

You do not have to navigate this alone. These Georgia and federal resources are free.

Learn More

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.