Medicare to Cover Full Cost of In-Home Safety Checks Starting 2027: Once Every Two Years

The new Preventive Home Visit Act is making a significant change to how Medicare handles preventive care, focusing on keeping people healthy and safe right where they live. Starting January 1, 2027, Medicare will cover a new service called a “preventive home visit.” This isn't just a quick phone call; it means a qualified health professional or team will come to your home (or connect remotely) to check out your living space and identify health risks.

The House Call, Reimagined

Think of this as a safety and health audit for your home, paid for by Medicare. The goal is to spot problems before they turn into expensive emergencies, like a broken hip from a fall. The bill specifically mandates that the health professional assesses your environment, identifies risks, and then provides referrals for things like home modifications (think grab bars or better lighting), balance training, or nutritional support to improve strength (Sec. 2). For a busy person whose parent or older relative is aging in place, this is a huge deal. It’s a proactive measure designed to prevent the kind of accidents that lead to lengthy hospital stays.

Who Pays, and How Often Can You Get It?

Here’s the good news on the money front: Medicare will cover 100 percent of the actual cost for this visit, up to a set rate (Sec. 2). Crucially, the Secretary of Health and Human Services is required to set a single, bundled payment for the entire visit and any referrals that come out of it. This bundled payment structure is designed to streamline the process for providers, making it easier for them to offer the full scope of necessary services without haggling over individual charges.

However, there’s a catch on frequency: you can only receive this preventive home visit once every two years. If your health situation or living arrangement changes rapidly—say, you have a surgery or a major life event—you might need more frequent check-ins than the law allows. While the intent is clearly to provide a valuable, fully covered service, that two-year limit might be too restrictive for those with complex or quickly evolving needs.

The Fine Print: What the Future Holds

This legislation essentially formalizes and fully funds a key component of proactive senior care. By focusing on the home environment, it acknowledges that health isn't just about what happens in the doctor's office, but also about the safety of where you spend your time. The biggest challenge in implementation will be how the Secretary defines a “qualified health professional” and how generously they set that bundled payment rate. If the rate is too low, providers might be incentivized to cut corners on the referrals—the very part of the service designed to prevent future problems. But overall, for Medicare beneficiaries, this act introduces a genuinely valuable, no-cost tool for staying safe and independent longer.