Are most heart screenings covered by insurance plans?

Visit Deanna Carlson, R.N., BSN, on the web at St. Joseph Hospital Women’s Heart Center in Orange, CA

Deanna Carlson: No, they’re not. I wish they were. Most of the time a doctor will take your blood cholesterol level, they will do your glucose, they will do a blood pressure check, may be they’ll do an EKG on you but what if they don’t?

They usually do, but what if they don’t or what if they don’t explain to you what high cholesterol is and what it is that you can do about in your life to get it down -- diet, exercise, whatever it is?

I think a lot of times they don’t tell you soon enough or maybe the person doesn’t hear it or they don’t believe it. So that’s why it’s good to have a special screening done that pertains only to heart, I think it’s a good thing. I wish it was covered though.