Medicare Part B is the medical insurance portion of Original Medicare. It covers doctor visits, outpatient care, preventive services, durable medical equipment, and certain drugs administered in clinical settings. In 2025, the standard monthly premium is $185.00 with an annual deductible of $257. After meeting that deductible, you typically pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for most covered services.
Doctor Visits and Outpatient Care
Part B covers services from doctors and other health care providers in their offices, outpatient clinics, and hospital outpatient departments. This includes emergency or observation services (which may involve an overnight hospital stay), same-day surgery, lab tests billed by the hospital, X-rays and other radiology services, and medical supplies like splints and casts. If you receive care in a hospital outpatient department rather than a standalone doctor’s office, you may owe an additional copayment to the hospital on top of your standard 20% coinsurance.
Preventive Services at No Cost
Most preventive services are covered at zero out-of-pocket cost when you see a provider who accepts Medicare assignment. This is one of the most valuable parts of Part B, because it means you can stay on top of screenings without worrying about a bill.
Covered preventive services include:
- Cancer screenings: mammograms, colonoscopies, lung cancer screenings, cervical and vaginal cancer screenings, prostate cancer screenings, and several types of colorectal tests including stool DNA tests and CT colonography
- Cardiovascular screenings: cholesterol and lipid checks, plus behavioral therapy for heart disease risk
- Diabetes screenings and self-management training
- Depression screenings: one per year at a primary care office
- Glaucoma screenings
- HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C screenings
- Vaccines: flu shots, pneumococcal shots, COVID-19 vaccines, and Hepatitis B shots
- Counseling services: alcohol misuse, tobacco cessation, obesity behavioral therapy, and sexually transmitted infection counseling
- Bone mass measurements
- Wellness visits: a one-time “Welcome to Medicare” preventive visit when you first enroll, plus a yearly wellness visit after that
The yearly wellness visit is not the same as a routine physical exam. It’s a personalized prevention plan where your provider reviews your health risks, updates screenings, and creates a prevention schedule. Routine physicals, by contrast, are not covered by Part B.
Mental Health Coverage
Part B covers outpatient mental health care, including individual and group psychotherapy with doctors or other licensed mental health professionals. It also covers partial hospitalization programs, where a doctor certifies you would otherwise need inpatient treatment, and intensive outpatient programs for mental health conditions including substance use disorders. After meeting your deductible, you pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for these visits.
Durable Medical Equipment
Part B covers medically necessary equipment your doctor orders for use in your home. The list includes wheelchairs and scooters, walkers, canes, crutches, hospital beds, oxygen equipment and accessories, CPAP machines for sleep apnea, blood sugar monitors with test strips and lancets, infusion pumps, and commode chairs. You typically pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount, and the equipment must be ordered by a Medicare-enrolled provider and supplied by a Medicare-approved supplier.
Drugs Covered Under Part B
Part B handles a specific category of drugs that most people don’t realize falls outside of Part D prescription drug coverage. The general rule: if a drug is something you wouldn’t normally give yourself, and you receive it in a doctor’s office or outpatient setting, Part B likely covers it.
This includes most injectable and infused drugs administered by a licensed provider, such as chemotherapy infusions, injectable osteoporosis medications, and monoclonal antibodies for early Alzheimer’s disease. Part B also covers drugs used with durable medical equipment, like medications delivered through a nebulizer or infusion pump. Certain oral drugs fall under Part B as well, including some oral cancer drugs (when an injectable version exists), oral anti-nausea drugs given as part of chemotherapy, and oral kidney disease medications for people with end-stage renal disease.
Other Part B drug coverage includes blood clotting factors for hemophilia, allergy testing and treatment antigens, HIV prevention drugs, intravenous immune globulin for primary immune deficiency, transplant and immunosuppressive drugs (if Medicare helped pay for your organ transplant), and tube feeding or intravenous nutrition when you can’t absorb food normally.
Home Health Services
Part B covers home health care under specific conditions. You must be homebound, meaning leaving your home is a major effort due to illness or injury and typically requires help from another person or assistive devices. A health care provider must assess you face-to-face and certify that you need skilled care, and a Medicare-certified home health agency must deliver the services.
Coverage is limited to part-time or intermittent skilled care, generally up to 8 hours per day of combined skilled nursing and home health aide services, with a maximum of 28 hours per week. In some cases, your provider can authorize up to 35 hours weekly for a short period. Part B does not pay for 24-hour home care, meal delivery, housekeeping unrelated to your care plan, or personal care like bathing and dressing when that’s the only type of help you need.
Telehealth Visits
Part B covers telehealth services using audio and video technology, including virtual check-ins (brief real-time conversations of 10 minutes or less) and e-visits through online patient portals. Through December 31, 2027, you can receive telehealth services from anywhere in the U.S., including your home. You pay the same 20% coinsurance you would for an in-person visit after meeting your deductible.
What Part B Does Not Cover
Several common health services fall outside Part B coverage. These include routine dental care (cleanings, fillings, extractions, dentures), eye exams for prescription glasses, hearing aids and the exams to fit them, long-term care, cosmetic surgery, and massage therapy. If you need coverage for dental, vision, or hearing services, a Medicare Advantage plan (Part C) may offer those benefits, or you can purchase separate supplemental coverage.
Part B vs. Medigap Plan B
If your search led you here, it’s worth clarifying a common point of confusion. Medicare Part B is the federal medical insurance program described throughout this article. Medigap Plan B is something entirely different: a standardized supplemental insurance policy sold by private companies that helps cover your share of costs under Original Medicare, like deductibles and coinsurance. The benefits in each lettered Medigap plan are the same regardless of which insurer sells it. So “Plan B” the supplement helps pay for costs that “Part B” the insurance program leaves you responsible for.