Does Medicare Cover STD Testing?

Medicare covers a variety of preventive care services, including screenings for sexually transmitted diseases. STDs are also known as sexually transmitted infections, or STIs.

Medicare will cover STI screenings once a year if you’re pregnant or at increased risk for an STI.

Medicare also covers a free HIV screening each year for those who qualify.

Pregnant women can receive STI and HIV testing more frequently than other Medicare beneficiaries because the presence of an STI during pregnancy can result in significant health complications for the mother and child.

For example, Medicare coverage includes up to three HIV screenings for pregnant beneficiaries. This includes when the woman first learns she is pregnant — during the third trimester and again during labor — if ordered by the woman’s doctor.

In addition to STD screenings, Medicare also covers up to two 20-minute to 30-minute, face-to-face counseling sessions each year if you’re a sexually active adolescent or an adult at increased risk for STIs.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services defines high-intensity behavioral counseling as a program intended to promote sexual risk reduction or risk avoidance.

You must be referred for this service by your primary care doctor and the counseling must take place in a primary care setting.

You can get free STD screenings if you’ve engaged in any activities that Medicare considers high-risk sexual behaviors.

Medicare considers all sexually active women 24 years old or younger at an increased risk for chlamydia and gonorrhea.

Anyone between the ages of 15 and 65 can receive an HIV screening.

If you are younger or older, you must be considered at an increased risk of HIV to receive this Medicare-covered service.

Your primary care provider will determine if you engage in any high or increased risk sexual behavior by assessing your sexual history.

This information is a standard part of most people’s general medical history. It’s often collected during your annual wellness visit or prenatal visit.

All coinsurance payments and deductibles are waived for yearly STI and HIV screenings.

You will owe nothing for these annual screenings so long as you meet eligibility requirements.

In addition to meeting the criteria, your STI lab tests must be ordered by a primary care doctor and performed by an eligible Medicare provider.

Medicare Advantage plans, which are administered by private insurers who contract with the federal government, also cover annual STI and HIV screenings for those who qualify.