Does Medicare Cover STI Screening? Free Tests & Who Qualifies

If you're on Medicare and wondering whether it covers STI screening, the answer is yes, and for people at increased risk it costs you nothing.1 Sexually transmitted infections are rising fastest among older adults, and this benefit is easy to miss because Medicare buries it. This guide lays out plainly what's covered, whether "at increased risk" includes you, and what, if anything, you'll pay.

In This Guide

• What Medicare Covers: STI Screening and Counseling
• Is "At Increased Risk" You?
• What It Costs
• HIV Screening and PrEP
• How to Get Medicare-Covered STI Screening
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

What Medicare Covers: STI Screening and Counseling

Medicare Part B covers screening for four sexually transmitted infections, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and hepatitis B, once every 12 months (or at certain points during a pregnancy) for beneficiaries who are pregnant or at increased risk, when a primary-care provider orders the test.1 These are the standard blood and lab tests your doctor's office already knows how to order; nothing about being on Medicare makes them harder to get.

Separately, Medicare covers a prevention benefit most people have never heard of: up to two individual behavioral counseling sessions a year, each 20 to 30 minutes, face-to-face with a provider, for adults at increased risk.1 It's a plain conversation about lowering your risk, referred by your primary-care provider and done in a primary-care setting.

Is "At Increased Risk" You?

This is where a lot of older adults quietly count themselves out, and they shouldn't. Whether you're "at increased risk" is a clinical judgment your primary-care provider makes with you, not something you're expected to decide about yourself in advance.1 Being older doesn't remove you from the category, and the screening exists precisely because these infections are common and often silent.

The practical takeaway: don't rule yourself out. If you're sexually active, or you're simply not sure where you stand, that's a normal thing to raise with your doctor, and it's their job to determine whether the covered screening applies to you.

What It Costs

For the screening itself, and for the counseling, you pay $0, as long as your provider accepts assignment. Medicare waives the Part B deductible and the coinsurance for these preventive services.1

There's one distinction worth understanding, because it's where a surprise bill can come from. A screening is a check when you have no symptoms, and that's the free benefit. If instead you have symptoms and your provider orders a test to diagnose what's wrong, or a screening comes back positive and you need treatment, that care is regular Part B care, not the free preventive benefit. Regular Part B care carries the standard cost-sharing: the annual deductible ($283 in 2026) and then 20% of the Medicare-approved amount.3 The screening is still free; it's the diagnosis and treatment that follow normal rules.

HIV Screening and PrEP

The same "it's covered and it's free" logic extends to HIV, with one condition attached. Part B covers HIV screening for people 15 to 65, and for anyone older than 65 who is at increased risk. Because nearly every Medicare beneficiary is over 65, most readers here are covered on that increased-risk limb rather than on age. Don't count yourself out of it: CMS's own list of who qualifies includes people who request an HIV test despite reporting no individual risk factors, and people a practitioner deems at increased risk after the ordinary history-taking that is typically part of an annual wellness visit. For someone eligible, the screening is $0 when the provider accepts assignment, once a year, and up to three times during a pregnancy, and a physician or practitioner has to order it.2

There's also a piece worth knowing. HHS states that Medicare now covers PrEP, the medication that prevents HIV, under Part B with no cost-sharing, including FDA-approved oral and injectable medications, administering them, and related services like counseling and screenings, so people at increased risk of HIV can get it without deductibles, copays, or coinsurance.2 PrEP is prescription-only, and any provider licensed to prescribe can write it, so no infectious-disease specialist is required. It is an ongoing course rather than a one-off: daily oral PrEP means seeing a provider every three months for repeat HIV tests, refills, and follow-up, and injectable PrEP means a visit every two or six months depending on which option you choose.2

How to Get Medicare-Covered STI Screening

There's no special enrollment and no separate form. The step is to ask your primary-care provider that you'd like STI screening, or the counseling, or HIV screening or PrEP, and let them order it. If it helps to have a reason to raise it, "I read that Medicare covers this for free and I want to make sure I'm up to date" is plenty. Neither the request nor the visit is anything to feel awkward about; it's ordinary preventive care.

Learn More

Find personalized help understanding your Medicare preventive benefits at brevy.com.

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.