Dental, Vision, and Hearing

Dental, vision, and hearing care under Medicare is extremely limited. There are, however, options that you may purchase alongside your Medicare plan to supplement its lack of coverage.

What Medicare Does & Does Not Cover

Original Medicare (Part A and Part B) does not cover virtually any dental, vision, or hearing benefits. When the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law and Medicare was restructured, the Social Security Act explicitly excluded most “services in connection with the care, treatment, filling, removal, or replacement of teeth or structures directly supporting teeth,” i.e. dental care. Unless you have a health emergency in which your life depends on dental treatment (covered under Part A), you will not receive dental coverage under Original Medicare.

The act also excludes “hearing aids or examinations,” but will cover examinations necessary to diagnose serious health conditions.

ACA does allow eye care as a result of illness or injury, including:
Cataract surgery
Glaucoma screening
Eye examinations (related to diabetes)
Age-related macular degeneration

If you have Medicare and Medicaid, you will have more coverage. For the average Original Medicare beneficiary, however, your dental, vision, and hearing insurance options are very limited.

Medicare Advantage Coverage

If you opt for a Medicare Advantage plan, you may have limited dental, vision, and hearing treatment coverage. But do keep in mind that not all Advantage plans will include these extra benefits. By working with Medicare Detectives, however, we can help you determine which Advantage plan would work best for you and determine which plan can provide the coverage you need.

Options for Dental, Vision, and Hearing Benefits

If you are looking for more dental, vision, and hearing coverage than is available through Original Medicare or Medicare Advantage, you will have to look to other health insurance options to add on to it.

These plans will offer more coverage than is available under Medicare Advantage alone. This includes no-charge examinations, allowances for visual aides, and oftentimes partial coverage for hearing aids.

For many Medicare beneficiaries, this additional boost in coverage is a necessity. If you are unsure whether or not an additional plan is right for you, take some time to review your budget and overall health needs, and compare options available in your area.

Explore All of Your Insurance Options with Medicare Detectives

Whether you are only interested in Original Medicare or Medicare Advantage, or if you would like to explore some additional dental, vision, and hearing plans available in your area, Medicare Detectives is here for you. No matter the situation, we can help.

We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1–800–MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.