Humana Annual Wellness Review

The Humana Annual Wellness Review Is Free — And Most People Skip It

Here’s a number that should bother you: roughly 50% of Medicare Advantage members don’t use their Annual Wellness Visit each year. That’s millions of people leaving a $0 preventive benefit completely untouched. The Humana Annual Wellness Review is one of the simplest, lowest-effort ways to keep tabs on your body — no symptoms required, no copay, no lab gown if you don’t want one. It’s a scheduled check-in designed to catch things before they become expensive problems. And if you’re between 40 and 65, already wondering whether something’s quietly going wrong inside you, this is the entry point most people overlook.

What Exactly Is a Humana Annual Wellness Review?

It’s not a physical exam. That confuses people constantly. A Humana Annual Wellness Review is a structured conversation and health risk assessment between you and your primary care provider. Medicare covers it at 100% — zero out-of-pocket cost — once every 12 months after your first year on a Medicare plan.

During this visit, your provider will:

— Review your medical and family history
— Update your list of current medications and supplements
— Check your height, weight, blood pressure, and BMI
— Screen for cognitive impairment
— Assess your risk for depression
— Create or update a personalized prevention plan
— Provide a written screening schedule (colonoscopy timing, mammograms, etc.)

That prevention plan piece is the part most people don’t realize exists. Your provider maps out which screenings you need, when you need them, and flags any risk factors based on your age, family history, and current numbers. It’s a roadmap. Not a diagnosis visit.

Am I Eligible for Humana’s Wellness Visit?

If you’re asking “Am I eligible for Humana’s wellness visit?” — the answer is almost certainly yes, as long as you meet two conditions. First, you need to have had Medicare Part B for longer than 12 months. Second, you can’t have had another Annual Wellness Visit within the past 12 months.

That’s it. No age minimum beyond Medicare eligibility. No referral needed. No pre-authorization. You call your PCP’s office, say you want to schedule your Annual Wellness Visit, and they handle the billing code (G0438 for the first one, G0439 for subsequent years).

If you’re on a Humana Medicare Advantage plan — HMO, PPO, or PFFS — this benefit is built in. Some Humana plans even add extras on top of the standard Medicare-covered visit, like additional screenings or reward incentives through programs like Go365.

What If You’re Under 65?

People under 65 qualify for Medicare if they have certain disabilities, End-Stage Renal Disease, or ALS. If you’re in that group and enrolled in a Humana Medicare Advantage plan, the Annual Wellness Review is available to you under the same rules. The 12-month waiting period after Part B enrollment still applies.

What’s Covered Under Humana’s Annual Wellness Visit?

This is where confusion hits hardest. People show up expecting bloodwork, EKGs, or a full physical — then get frustrated when those services aren’t included. So let’s be specific about what’s covered under Humana’s Annual Wellness visit.

Covered at $0:

— Health Risk Assessment questionnaire
— Review of your functional ability (can you dress yourself, cook, manage stairs)
— Detection of cognitive impairment through brief screening
— Updated list of providers and prescriptions
— Personalized health advice and prevention plan
— Screening schedule for the next 5–10 years
— Advance care planning discussion (optional, also $0)
— Depression screening
— Height, weight, BMI, blood pressure measurement

NOT automatically covered during this visit:

— Blood draws or lab panels
— EKG or cardiac testing
— Hands-on physical examination
— Treatment or diagnosis of a new complaint
— Referrals triggered by something you mention

Here’s the catch that trips people up. If you mention a symptom — knee pain, chest tightness, a weird mole — and your doctor investigates it during the same appointment, that portion of the visit may be billed separately. You could end up with a copay for the diagnostic piece even though the wellness portion was free.

A woman named Diane in a Medicare forum described exactly this. She went in for her Annual Wellness Visit, mentioned tingling in her feet, and her doctor did a monofilament test right there. She got a bill for $45 because that test was coded as diagnostic, not preventive. The wellness visit itself was still $0. But the extra work wasn’t.

This doesn’t mean you should hide symptoms. It means you should know the boundary exists.

Why This Matters If You’re 40–65 and Worried About Hidden Problems

Most adults in this age range share a specific anxiety: something is developing inside them — high blood pressure, pre-diabetes, early-stage cancer — and they won’t know until it’s advanced. The data supports that fear. The CDC estimates 1 in 3 American adults has prediabetes, and 80% of them don’t know it. Hypertension affects nearly half of U.S. adults, and a significant portion is undiagnosed.

The Humana Annual Wellness Review doesn’t diagnose these conditions directly. But it creates the framework for catching them. Your provider reviews your numbers, flags risk factors, and orders the right follow-up screenings. Without this visit, many people simply don’t get screened at the right intervals.

A 2022 study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that patients who completed Annual Wellness Visits had higher rates of cancer screening, diabetes screening, and statin prescriptions when appropriate — compared to patients who skipped the visit entirely. The visit itself is a trigger for action.

How to Schedule Your Humana Annual Wellness Review

Call your primary care provider’s office. Use the exact phrase “Annual Wellness Visit” when you schedule. If you say “annual physical” or “check-up,” they may schedule a different type of appointment with different billing.

Some Humana plans let you schedule through the MyHumana app or member portal. You can also call the number on the back of your Humana member ID card and ask for help finding an in-network provider who offers the visit.

Timing It Right

You can schedule your Humana Annual Wellness Review any time after you’ve had Part B for 12 months. After that, it resets every calendar year — not every 365 days. So if you had your visit in March 2025, you could technically schedule another one in January 2026.

Some Humana members stack their Annual Wellness Visit with their Go365 wellness activities to earn rewards points. The visit itself often counts toward Go365 goals, which can translate into gift cards or fitness device discounts.

Common Mistakes People Make With the Annual Wellness Visit

Mistake 1: Treating It Like a Physical

This is the most frequent error. The Annual Wellness Visit is not a head-to-toe physical exam. If you want a full physical, you need to request that separately — and it may come with a copay depending on your plan.

Mistake 2: Not Bringing Your Medication List

Your provider needs to reconcile your medications during this visit. If you show up without a list — or forget to mention supplements — they’re working with incomplete data. Bring every bottle, or at minimum a typed list with dosages.

Mistake 3: Not Being Honest on the Health Risk Assessment

The questionnaire you fill out before or during the visit asks about alcohol use, fall risk, mood, diet, and activity level. People fudge these answers. That defeats the purpose. Your provider uses your responses to calibrate your prevention plan. If you underreport alcohol use, for example, they won’t flag liver screening as a priority.

Mistake 4: Skipping It Because You Feel Fine

The entire point of preventive care is catching problems before you feel them. Colon cancer doesn’t produce symptoms in early stages. Neither does high cholesterol. Neither does most hypertension. Feeling fine is not a screening tool.

What Happens If You Never Do a Humana Annual Wellness Review?

Nothing dramatic in the short term. Humana won’t penalize you. Your premiums won’t change. But over time, you miss the structured opportunity to get screened at the right intervals. You miss cognitive baseline measurements that help detect decline later. You miss medication reviews that catch dangerous interactions.

There’s also a financial angle. Preventive visits are designed to reduce downstream costs. A colonoscopy at 45 catches a polyp before it becomes stage III colon cancer. A depression screening leads to treatment before a crisis hospitalization. The visit is cheap for the system — and free for you — because early detection costs less than late-stage treatment.

Humana reports that members who complete Annual Wellness Visits have lower emergency department utilization rates in subsequent years. That correlation isn’t surprising. People who engage with preventive care tend to catch issues earlier and manage chronic conditions more effectively.

Humana-Specific Extras Beyond the Standard Wellness Visit

Depending on your specific Humana Medicare Advantage plan, you may have access to benefits layered on top of the standard Annual Wellness Visit. These vary by plan and region, but common additions include:

— Hearing screenings at no extra cost
— Vision exams bundled into preventive care
— Silver Sneakers or gym membership credits
— Go365 points for completing the visit (redeemable for gift cards)
— Telehealth wellness visits (some plans began covering virtual AWVs in 2024 and continue in 2026)
— Nurse hotline follow-ups post-visit

Check your Evidence of Coverage document or call Humana’s member services line to verify what your specific plan includes. Plan benefits change annually, and what was included last year may differ this year.

Can You Do the Humana Annual Wellness Review Over Telehealth?

Yes — with conditions. CMS extended telehealth flexibilities for Annual Wellness Visits, and many Humana plans support virtual completion. Your provider still needs to conduct the Health Risk Assessment, medication review, and cognitive screening. Height, weight, and blood pressure may need to be self-reported or measured at a pharmacy kiosk beforehand.

Not all providers offer virtual AWVs. You’ll need to confirm with your PCP’s office whether they support it. Some clinics prefer in-person visits for the cognitive and depression screenings because they rely on observational cues.

How the Annual Wellness Review Connects to Monitoring Your Body Without Constant Doctor Visits

This is the piece that matters most for people who want low-effort health monitoring. The Humana Annual Wellness Review is a once-a-year anchor. One visit. One conversation. And from that single appointment, you get a personalized list of what to watch, when to screen, and what lifestyle adjustments matter most for your risk profile.

Think of it as the minimum viable health strategy. You’re not committing to monthly appointments or invasive testing. You’re committing to one structured visit per year that generates a plan. Then you follow the plan — or don’t — until next year.

For someone aged 52 with a family history of heart disease, that plan might say: get a lipid panel every year, take a statin, schedule a stress test at 55, monitor blood pressure at home weekly. That’s actionable. That’s low-effort. And it came from a single free visit.

Pairing the Wellness Visit With At-Home Monitoring

After your Humana Annual Wellness Review, consider what at-home tools your provider recommends. Common ones:

— Automatic blood pressure cuff (used 2–3 times per week, logged in an app)
— Continuous glucose monitors for those flagged as prediabetic
— Pulse oximeters for anyone with respiratory risk factors
— Smart scales that track weight trends over time
— Home A1C test kits (available over the counter for $30–$50)

These tools don’t replace medical care. But combined with the prevention plan from your Annual Wellness Visit, they give you data between appointments. You see trends before they become emergencies.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Humana Annual Wellness Review

How often can I get a Humana Annual Wellness Review?

Once every 12 months after your initial “Welcome to Medicare” preventive visit. The clock resets each calendar year, not based on exact date intervals.

Does the Humana Annual Wellness Review include blood work?

No. Lab work is not part of the standard Annual Wellness Visit. Your provider may order labs separately based on what the visit reveals, but those may carry a copay depending on your plan.

Am I eligible for Humana’s wellness visit if I just enrolled?

New Medicare enrollees get a one-time “Welcome to Medicare” preventive visit within their first 12 months. After that 12-month period, you become eligible for the Annual Wellness Visit every year thereafter.

What’s the difference between an Annual Wellness Visit and a physical?

A physical involves hands-on examination — listening to your heart, checking your abdomen, examining your skin. The Annual Wellness Visit is primarily a conversation, risk assessment, and planning session. No gown required for the AWV.

Can I combine the wellness visit with other appointments?

Yes, but anything beyond the preventive scope will be billed separately. Many people schedule their AWV first, then book a follow-up for any issues that arise — keeping the preventive visit clean and free.

What’s covered under Humana’s Annual Wellness visit for hearing and vision?

The standard Medicare AWV does not include hearing or vision exams. However, many Humana Medicare Advantage plans add hearing and vision screenings as supplemental benefits. Check your plan’s Summary of Benefits.

Take Advantage of What You’re Already Paying For

The Humana Annual Wellness Review costs you nothing out of pocket. It takes 20–40 minutes. It gives you a structured prevention plan tailored to your body, your history, and your risks. For anyone between 40 and 65 who lies awake wondering whether something’s silently wrong — this is the lowest-friction starting point available. One visit per year. A personalized screening roadmap. And the peace of mind that comes from knowing someone trained actually looked at your full picture.

Read the rest of our articles and more useful info down below for additional ways to stay ahead of your health without overhauling your entire life.