Most adults in their 60s should plan on a health check-up once a year. While there’s no single guideline mandating an annual head-to-toe physical exam, the combination of screenings, vaccinations, and risk assessments recommended for this decade adds up to at least one thorough visit per year. If you’re on Medicare, you’re covered for a yearly “Wellness” visit at no cost, which serves as the practical backbone of your preventive care.
The Medicare Wellness Visit Is Not a Physical
One of the most common points of confusion for people in their 60s is the difference between a traditional physical exam and the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit. Medicare Part B covers one Wellness visit every 12 months with no copay and no deductible. But this visit isn’t a head-to-toe physical. It’s a structured check-in: your provider reviews your medical and family history, goes over your current prescriptions, takes routine measurements like height, weight, and blood pressure, and builds a personalized screening schedule for the year ahead.
The Wellness visit also includes a cognitive assessment to look for early signs of dementia, a review of substance use risk factors, and a “Health Risk Assessment” questionnaire. It’s essentially a planning session for your preventive care. If your provider performs additional tests or a hands-on physical exam during that same appointment, those extras may come with separate charges. Many people schedule their Wellness visit as their annual touchpoint and then add any needed screenings or follow-ups from there.
Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Checks
Blood pressure monitoring is one of the simplest and most important parts of any visit in your 60s. If your blood pressure is below 120/80, checking it every two years is generally sufficient. If it falls in the elevated range (120-139 systolic or 80-89 diastolic), annual checks are recommended. Since blood pressure tends to rise with age, most people in their 60s end up getting it checked at least once a year.
Cholesterol screening follows a similar pattern. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recommends lipid panels every one to two years for men aged 45 to 65 and women aged 55 to 65. Once you pass 65, annual cholesterol checks become the standard. If you have a family history of heart disease or already take medication for cholesterol, your provider may want to check more frequently.
Colorectal Cancer Screening
Colorectal cancer screening is strongly recommended for all adults aged 50 to 75. You have options for how to do it, and the testing interval depends on which method you choose. A colonoscopy is the most comprehensive option, and if results are normal, you won’t need another one for 10 years. That means if you had a clean colonoscopy at 60, your next one would be due around age 70.
If you prefer a less invasive approach, stool-based tests are effective alternatives. A fecal immunochemical test (FIT) or a high-sensitivity guaiac fecal occult blood test is done every year. A stool DNA test combined with FIT is done every one to three years. These tests can be completed at home and mailed to a lab, making them a convenient option if you’re up to date on screening but want ongoing monitoring.
Breast Cancer Screening for Women
Women in their 60s should continue getting mammograms every two years. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends biennial screening mammography for all women aged 40 to 74, noting that every-other-year screening offers a more favorable balance of benefits and risks compared to annual screening. This recommendation applies to women at average risk. If you have dense breast tissue or other risk factors, your provider may suggest supplemental imaging or a different schedule.
Prostate Cancer Screening for Men
For men in their 60s, prostate cancer screening with a PSA blood test is not a blanket recommendation. The guidance for men aged 55 to 69 is to have a conversation with your provider about whether PSA testing makes sense for you, weighing the potential benefits of early detection against the risks of overdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment. Some men with a family history or other risk factors will choose to screen periodically, while others will opt out. After age 70, PSA screening is no longer recommended for most men.
Bone Density Screening
Women aged 65 and older should get a baseline bone density scan (DEXA scan) to check for osteoporosis. How often you repeat that scan depends entirely on the results. If your first scan shows normal bone density or only mild thinning, you likely won’t need another scan for about 15 years. If it shows moderate thinning, rescreening in about five years is reasonable. Advanced thinning warrants a follow-up in roughly one year. These intervals are based on research tracking nearly 5,000 women aged 67 and older, which found that it took an average of nearly 17 years for women with normal or mildly reduced bone density to progress to osteoporosis.
For women in their early 60s who haven’t yet reached 65, screening may still be appropriate if you have risk factors like a history of fractures after age 50, long-term steroid use, smoking, low body weight, or rheumatoid arthritis.
Vision and Hearing Tests
Your 60s are a decade when both vision and hearing can change noticeably. Comprehensive eye exams are recommended every five years in the absence of symptoms, though annual vision screening is suggested for adults over 50 to catch problems like macular degeneration, cataracts, or glaucoma early. If you already wear corrective lenses or have diabetes, annual eye exams are especially important.
Hearing screening is recommended every five years for adults aged 50 to 64. Starting at 65, that frequency increases to every one to three years. Even if you haven’t noticed obvious hearing loss, gradual decline is common and easy to miss. A baseline hearing test in your early 60s gives your provider a reference point for tracking changes over time.
One-Time Screenings to Know About
Men who are between 65 and 75 and have ever smoked should get a one-time abdominal ultrasound to screen for an abdominal aortic aneurysm, a dangerous bulging of the body’s main artery. This is a painless imaging test, not a physical exam, and it only needs to be done once. The recommendation applies even if you quit smoking decades ago.
Vaccines in Your 60s
Your 60s bring a few important additions to the vaccine schedule. The shingles vaccine (Shingrix) is a two-dose series recommended for adults 50 and older, so if you haven’t gotten it yet, now is the time. Pneumococcal vaccination typically requires one or two doses depending on your history. A tetanus-diphtheria booster is due every 10 years for all adults. And a flu shot remains an annual recommendation.
The RSV vaccine is currently recommended for adults 75 and older, so it’s not yet part of the routine schedule for most people in their 60s unless specific risk factors apply.
Putting It All Together
In practical terms, most people in their 60s should see their primary care provider at least once a year. That annual visit, whether it’s structured as a Medicare Wellness visit or a traditional check-up, is your opportunity to get blood pressure and weight checked, review your medications, assess cognitive health, and make sure you’re on schedule for age-appropriate screenings. Some of those screenings, like colonoscopies and bone density scans, happen on longer cycles. Others, like cholesterol panels and stool-based cancer tests, may need annual attention. Your provider will tailor the exact schedule based on your personal risk factors, family history, and the results of previous tests.