Difference Between Preventative and Diagnostic Care

What is the Difference Between Preventative and Diagnostic Care?

You will likely receive preventative and diagnostic care when you visit the hospital for a routine checkup. Your doctor uses the two to keep you healthy and detect illnesses like cancer in their early stages. However, preventative and diagnostic care are not the same.

Their differences go beyond the services involved to their insurance coverage. This article will discuss the significant differences between preventative and diagnostic care.

Preventative Care vs. Diagnostic Care

The first difference between preventative and diagnostic care lies in their meaning. Preventative care identifies sicknesses and diseases before symptoms develop or the illness becomes chronic. On the other hand, diagnostic care deals with existing medical conditions or symptoms.

Diagnostic care starts where preventative care ends. So, suppose you have been going for routine cancer screening and taking preventative medicine. During one of the tests, your doctor sees an abnormality and asks for further tests to arrive at a diagnosis.

Preventative care ended when your doctor asked for additional tests to identify the abnormality. At this point, diagnostic care has started, and it covers services like:

Ultrasound
Radiology
Blood tests
Laboratory tests

On the other hand, preventative care services are:

Screening tests
Counseling
Medications
Immunization
Wellness Program

As mentioned, you may go for preventative care and get diagnostic services. Therefore, asking your doctor to let you know when the shift happens is essential. You will need the information for insurance purposes.

How Does Preventative Care Insurance Coverage Differ From Diagnostic Care?

Preventative care services are 100% paid for by your health insurance provider, with no out-of-pocket costs. However, your insurer may ask you to co-pay for diagnostic care or charge additional fees. This is because diagnostic tests are pretty expensive.

Such tests include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasounds, X-rays, and invasive tests. Also, the Affordable Care Act makes it compulsory for health insurance providers to pay for preventative care services.

But the Act does not mandate insurance companies to pay 100% for diagnostic care. Therefore, when buying an insurance policy, carefully read the contract to know how much the co-pay is for diagnostic care and if there are additional fees.

The good news is that our team at Goldstein Healthcare has reviewed the best insurance plans for preventative and diagnostic care, so you don’t have to do it yourself. We will present personalized solutions that meet your needs and exceed your expectations.