Even though Medicare's been covering the cost of colon cancer screening since 1998, most Medicare patients are not getting the life-saving test.

Colonoscopies will rarely land at the top of anyone’s list of “What I want to do today,” but Dr. Pramod Malik of Gastroenterology Associates of Tidewater said there is no question that though they may be unpleasant, colonoscopies save lives.

"In various studies it has been shown to reduce the risk of cancer by 90%,” he said. “So, you catch them before they become colon cancer and you have prevented the cancer."

Unless one’s at high risk, the government and the American Cancer Society recommend people start getting the screening at age 50 and do so every ten years.

Carole Walker is one of the few who are by the book. Her father died of colon cancer, and she doesn't want to be next.         

"My father passed away from colon cancer and I have one every five years,” she said. “So, I come, I try to be a good patient. I don't want to die from colon cancer."

However, Walker is the exception to the trend. Before Medicare covered the cost, about 29% of eligible Medicare recipients had the recommended colonoscopy.

Since Medicare began covering the cost in 1998, the percentage has gone down to 25.

"If the numbers are 25% in this study, the actual numbers we see in clinical practice of the number of patients who get screened is close to that,” said Malik.

Experts say it's unclear why the screening rates are so low when the benefits are so high.

Certainly, not every single senior is a candidate for colonoscopy. Some are too sick, some won't live 10 years, but the main reason people put them off is fear.

Officials estimate increased screening would cut the colon cancer death rate in half.