Does Medicare cover dental, vision and hearing?

The quick list

Here is what Original Medicare does with the services people ask me about most. Where it says Part B, you generally pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount after the yearly Part B deductible, which is $283 in 2026.

Dental: what Medicare covers, and what it doesn’t

In most cases, Original Medicare doesn’t cover dental care: not routine cleanings, fillings or extractions, and not dentures or implants. You pay the full cost of those yourself unless you have other coverage.

Medicare may cover dental care in a narrow set of situations, when the dental work is tied to the success of a medical treatment Medicare covers:

• An oral exam and dental treatment before a heart valve replacement, or a bone marrow, organ or kidney transplant.
• A procedure, such as pulling a tooth, to treat a mouth infection before cancer treatment like chemotherapy, and treatment for complications during head and neck cancer treatment.
• Dental or oral exams, and treatment of a mouth infection, before and during dialysis if you have End-Stage Renal Disease.
• Some dental services you get as a hospital inpatient, when your medical condition or the severity of the procedure means it has to be done in the hospital.

When Part B covers one of these, you pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount after the Part B deductible, plus a facility copayment if it is done in a hospital outpatient department.

Vision: eye exams, glasses and cataracts

Original Medicare doesn’t cover routine eye exams, the kind that check your prescription for glasses or contacts, and it doesn’t usually cover the glasses or contacts themselves. Where Part B does help is with eye disease:

• Cataract surgery. Part B may cover cataract surgery that implants a conventional intraocular lens. Medicare notes that this can depend on where you live, so confirm with the surgeon’s office before the date is set. You pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount after the Part B deductible.
• Glasses after cataract surgery. Part B covers one pair of glasses with standard frames, or one set of contact lenses, after each cataract surgery that implants an intraocular lens. Upgraded frames cost extra, and the glasses must come from a supplier that participates in Medicare.
• Diabetic eye exams. If you have diabetes, Part B covers an eye exam for diabetic retinopathy once a year, from an eye doctor legally allowed to do it in your state.
• Glaucoma screenings. Once every 12 months if you are at high risk: you have diabetes, a family history of glaucoma, you are African American and 50 or older, or you are Hispanic and 65 or older.
• Macular degeneration. If you have age-related macular degeneration, Part B may cover certain tests and treatments, including some injected drugs.

Hearing: exams yes, hearing aids no

Original Medicare doesn’t cover hearing aids, or the exams to fit them. You pay the full cost.

Part B does cover diagnostic hearing and balance exams when your doctor or another provider orders them to find out whether you need medical treatment. You can also see an audiologist once every 12 months without an order, for hearing loss that has come on slowly over the years, or for diagnostic services when your hearing loss is treated with a surgically implanted device.

You pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount after the Part B deductible, plus a copayment in a hospital outpatient setting.

Chiropractors, acupuncture and massage

• Chiropractic. Part B covers only one thing a chiropractor does: adjusting the spine by hand, or with a device called an activator, to correct a subluxation, when the spinal joints don’t move properly. It doesn’t cover other tests or services a chiropractor orders, including X-rays, massage therapy and acupuncture.
• Acupuncture. Part B covers acupuncture, including dry needling, only for chronic low back pain: pain lasting 12 weeks or longer, with no known cause, and not tied to surgery or pregnancy. It covers up to 12 treatments in 90 days, and 8 more if you are improving, for no more than 20 in a 12-month period. A doctor or another qualified provider, such as a nurse practitioner or physician assistant who meets Medicare’s acupuncture requirements, must give it; Medicare can’t pay licensed acupuncturists directly.
• Massage therapy. Not covered.

Where Medicare Advantage and Medigap fit

Medicare gives you two main ways to get your coverage, and they treat dental, vision and hearing differently.

• Medicare Advantage (Part C). These are plans from private companies with a Medicare contract. Medicare says most of them offer extra benefits Original Medicare doesn’t cover, like vision, hearing and dental. What is included, and how much of it, differs from plan to plan, so read the plan’s own details before you count on it.
• Medigap (Medicare Supplement Insurance). Medigap helps pay your share of costs in Original Medicare, like deductibles and coinsurance. It generally doesn’t cover vision or dental care, hearing aids or glasses.

So if you keep Original Medicare, with or without a Medigap policy, dental, vision and hearing are costs to plan for on your own. I compare the two paths in more detail in Medicare Advantage vs. Medigap.

When you can change

Medicare’s Open Enrollment runs from October 15 to December 7 each year. During it you can switch from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan, from Medicare Advantage back to Original Medicare, or from one Medicare Advantage plan to another. Changes take effect January 1.

Where I come in

If teeth, eyes or ears are a big part of your budget, that belongs in the conversation before you choose how you get Medicare, not after. I look at your doctors, your prescriptions and what you expect to need, and walk you through what the plans I offer in your area include. There is no cost for my help, and I work by phone or video, in English or Spanish. More on how I help with Medicare.

Questions people ask

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