Free Medicare benefits include mammograms, flu vaccines and diabetes screening

Do any of these tests look helpful for you?

Here are some of the benefits available for free to Medicare beneficiaries

— no co-payments, coinsurance or deductibles — when provided by

health-care professionals who accept Medicare.

• Annual mammograms for women 40 and older.

• Cervical cancer screening, including a Pap smear test and pelvic exam, every two years or annually for women with a high risk of cervical cancer.

• Colorectal cancer screenings every 10 years, or every two if at high risk, for people 50 and older.

• Cholesterol test and other cardiovascular screenings every five years.

• Diabetes screening for people at risk for the disease.

• Medical nutrition counseling to help people manage diabetes

or kidney disease (three hours of individual counseling the first year

and then two hours annually).

• Annual prostate cancer screening (for men 50 and older).