Good news: More vaccines covered at no cost to you!

[fh2000]

I received an email from Medicare.gov.


"Examples of vaccines now covered under Medicare Part D include:

Shingles
Tetanus/diphtheria (Td)
Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (whooping cough) (Tdap)
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis B

Flu shots, COVID-19 vaccines, and pneumococcal shots are still covered by Medicare."

I had all of those already, but I seem to remember some people mentioned that Medicare did not cover Shingles. So, is this something new now?

 

[Gotadimple]

I received an email from Medicare.gov.


"Examples of vaccines now covered under Medicare Part D include:

Shingles
Tetanus/diphtheria (Td)
Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (whooping cough) (Tdap)
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis B

Flu shots, COVID-19 vaccines, and pneumococcal shots are still covered by Medicare."

I had all of those already, but I seem to remember some people mentioned that Medicare did not cover Shingles. So, is this something new now?

Yes, this is new.

 

[NW-Bound]

We stopped by Walmart late last year to inquire about Shingrix. The clerk said "$200/shot now, or you can wait till 2023 and it will be free".

So, we got our 1st shot of Shingrix and will be coming back for the 2nd soon.

 

[Koolau]

We stopped by Walmart late last year to inquire about Shingrix. The clerk said "$200/shot now, or you can wait till 2023 and it will be free".

So, we got our 1st shot of Shingrix and will be coming back for the 2nd soon.

I have no problem with making much of preventive care "at no cost to you" as pointed out in the thread title. But I always chafe when someone (a store clerk or worse, a doctor) says something is "free." I can't seem to get past that though I am trying.

 

[NW-Bound]

^^^ Maybe the clerk said "free to you", but the truth is that it would not matter to me to remember.

What I remember is that I did ponder if the desire to save $400 by delaying the shots would have caused us to catch shingles and regret being cheap.

Now, we did have the older shingles vaccine some years ago, and I do not think I paid anything back then.

And also, we also had the TDAP vaccine last year per my niece request, in order to be allowed to handle my grandnephew. I don't recall paying anything for it.


PS. By the way, my mother-in-law caught shingles 2 weeks ago. I believe she had the single-shot shingles vaccine, hence her symptoms were mild, and she has recovered nicely.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

This post reminded me that the FDA approved a second Bivalent booster for the over us 65s. Free too.

 

[Koolau]

What I remember is that I did ponder if the desire to save $400 by delaying the shots would have caused us to catch shingles and regret being cheap.

Yeah, one of the "unknowables" of life, I guess.

All I know is that DW had shingles years ago and I'd pay a lot more than $200 to prevent her (or me) from getting shingles, now that I've seen shingles. And hers was a fairly mild case with no serious side effects and no long-lasting effects. YMMV

Heh, heh, DW still remembers the name of the little snot-nosed kid who returned to school too soon after chicken pox and gave it to her. I keep telling her to forgive, but it's been a struggle for her - especially when she got shingles.

 

[Major Tom]

I have no problem with making much of preventive care "at no cost to you" as pointed out in the thread title. But I always chafe when someone (a store clerk or worse, a doctor) says something is "free." I can't seem to get past that though I am trying.

I get over it by immediately translating "free" to "no out-of-pocket cost to the customer", which is what is meant.

 

[6miths]

Heh, heh, DW still remembers the name of the little snot-nosed kid who returned to school too soon after chicken pox and gave it to her. I keep telling her to forgive, but it's been a struggle for her - especially when she got shingles.

She should lighten up on the kid as back in the pre-vaccine days almost all children living in temperate climates got chicken pox and this was a relatively good thing as you definitely didn't want to avoid it and have your first infection as an adult. Even more risky was women getting it when pregnant. She was going to get it sooner or later. Better sooner generally.

 

[MarieIG]

I got the Shingrix, IIRC, in the fall of 2021. I remember when my mother had shingles and had no desire for that.

 

[NW-Bound]

She should lighten up on the kid as back in the pre-vaccine days almost all children living in temperate climates got chicken pox and this was a relatively good thing as you definitely didn't want to avoid it and have your first infection as an adult. Even more risky was women getting it when pregnant. She was going to get it sooner or later. Better sooner generally.

While shingles is scary, chicken pox is nothing like smallpox. Scary stuff!

I think we here are all old enough to be vaccinated for smallpox. I looked for the vaccination scar on my arm, and took a bit of time to find it.

 

[audreyh1]

While shingles is scary, chicken pox is nothing like smallpox. Scary stuff!

I think we here are all old enough to be vaccinated for smallpox. I looked for the vaccination scar on my arm, and took a bit of time to find it.

The smallpox vaccination protection supposedly does wane over decades.

The recent monkeypox scare brought that to light.

 

[Koolau]

She should lighten up on the kid as back in the pre-vaccine days almost all children living in temperate climates got chicken pox and this was a relatively good thing as you definitely didn't want to avoid it and have your first infection as an adult. Even more risky was women getting it when pregnant. She was going to get it sooner or later. Better sooner generally.

Yeah, all three of our kids got CP over a period of 2 weeks. Not a happy time at the Ko'olau household.

 

[Koolau]

I get over it by immediately translating "free" to "no out-of-pocket cost to the customer", which is what is meant.

Okay, but even Medicare is using the word "free" and they know better. In the blurb I got from them yesterday, they say "...even more vaccines are free for people with Medicare Part D — an average savings of up to $70 in out-of-pocket costs each year." They DO slip in the "out of pocket" phrase, but emphasis is on how lucky we are that more vaccines are now "free" - which they are not.

I admit it. It's a personal kink of mine. I just don't like misrepresentation, even if it's mostly "understood" that "free" means "now included in the benefits." Obviously, YMMV.

 

[Major Tom]

Okay, but even Medicare is using the word "free" and they know better. In the blurb I got from them yesterday, they say "...even more vaccines are free for people with Medicare Part D — an average savings of up to $70 in out-of-pocket costs each year." They DO slip in the "out of pocket" phrase, but emphasis is on how lucky we are that more vaccines are now "free" - which they are not.

I admit it. It's a personal kink of mine. I just don't like misrepresentation, even if it's mostly "understood" that "free" means "now included in the benefits." Obviously, YMMV.

I get it and, like you, don't agree with Medicare stating that vaccines are free. It's one thing for people like you and me to say it, as we understand, in this context, what "free" really means. I'd much prefer it if providers used terminology along the lines of "no out of pocket cost to you".

Perhaps they're doing it in order to get the message across to the maximum number of people. I'm not sure that I agree with the philosophy of "programming down to people" though, especially if that over-simplification encourages a lack of understanding. I was only thinking in terms of how I interpret it.

 

[jim584672]

ACA plans and expansion Medicaid cover Shingrix. I got mine a while ago for free.

 

[Major Tom]

ACA plans and expansion Medicaid cover Shingrix. I got mine a while ago for free.

I got mine a few years ago at no out of pocket cost to me

 

[razztazz]

I got mine a few years ago at no out of pocket cost to me

I was actually surprised that my insurance did pay for it but Medicare didn't. I thought shingles was a threat to oldsters?

 

[Major Tom]

I was actually surprised that my insurance did pay for it but Medicare didn't. I thought shingles was a threat to oldsters?

Those were my thoughts too. Glad that they are now covering it. My 75 year-old neighbor, who has never had full health coverage, has never been vaccinated for shingles. She caught it a couple of years ago and boy, did she wish she'd had the shot when she was younger.

 

[NW-Bound]

I was actually surprised that my insurance did pay for it but Medicare didn't. I thought shingles was a threat to oldsters?

It is true that oldsters got it more. But then, they don't have many years to go until they croak, so perhaps the economic advantage is not that high.

The pundits may say: "Lemme see. Out of 100K people, only 10 got it bad enough to cost $50K a piece to treat until they croak. Most of them can tough it out until they heal. And at $400/head for vaccine, that's $40 million for vaccination. Perhaps the money is better used for other medical needs".

I dunno. The truth is that resources are always limited, and it's hard to make trade-offs. Some say that human life is invaluable, but if that were true then each wrongful death would bring $1 zillion dollar in compensation. In actual lawsuits the awarded amount is $500K to $1M, so that's what individuals are worth. At most. Many wrongful-death victims die for nothing. Sad.

 

[harley]

I admit it. It's a personal kink of mine. I just don't like misrepresentation, even if it's mostly "understood" that "free" means "now included in the benefits." Obviously, YMMV.

Just assume that any word which can be misused will be.