Travel Vaccine Cost

[candrew]

I searched for a previous thread on the topic of travel vaccines and their cost and found none. So, I thought it might be helpful to share some info based on a recent personal experience.

DW & I will be in Morocco for 2 months next Jan-Feb as part of a long-term travel itinerary. For extended stays like ours in Morocco, the CDC recommends the Hep A and Typhus vaccines. Shared this with my PCP during yesterday's annual wellness exam and he concurred along with providing contact information for 2 "travel health clinics" in our area.

The travel health clinics charge a $115 office visit fee on top of another $225 for the Hep A & oral Typhus vaccines for a total of $340. $680 out the door for both of us!

Made a phone to call to our local Costco and their pharmacy will do both vaccines for $115. $230 out the door for us both. It pays to shop around.

 

[big-papa]

It's gone down. In 2012 I did Travel Clinic before a trip to India and it was about $800 (company paid because it was a business trip). Along with the shots, it also included 2 Cipro Antibiotic tablets. Turns out that was needed because the night that my plane was to leave, IT hit me. Forgot to ask that my scrambled eggs at breakfast be cooked till they were dry. Doh! Anyway, Cipro knocked it out in plenty of time to catch the plane.


CVS Minute Clinic also provides this service by the way....

 

[OldShooter]

Medicare Advantage plan has always covered all of our vaccinations but will not pay for travel clinic visits. For us that's no problem because we are in a concierge plan. I just call our regular nurse, she calls the travel clinic (and checks with our doc if necessary) to find what is needed, then we get the shots from her. I think this should work with anyone's regular doc. At this point we've basically had all the shots so the only thing we get is the occasional booster.

+1 on the Cipro. We always carry beaucoup generic Imodium, ibuprofen, and generic Sudafed. Also one scrip each of Cipro or Azithromycin. It's our standard kit. Never leave home without it.

We just got the new shingles shots, though, and the Medicare Advantage plan won't pay the $271. We have to file a claim via our Part D carrier and supposedly it will be paid according to the terms of that plan.

 

[travelover]

Be careful with Cipro. It used to be my ace in the hole travel drug, but I'd think three times before taking it now.


https://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/news/20080708/fda-warning-cipro-may-rupture-tendons

 

[candrew]

CVS Minute Clinic also provides this service by the way.

Checked our local CVS Minute Clinic pricing on the Hep A and Oral Typhus. Hep A is $145 and Typhus $142.

CVS cost is half that of our Travel Health Clinics but more than 2X what Costco charges.

 

[candrew]

Be careful with Cipro. It used to be my ace in the hole travel drug, but I'd think three times before taking it now.


https://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/news/20080708/fda-warning-cipro-may-rupture-tendons

+1 re: Cipro. OTH, I'm wary of taking any antibiotics. We've found in our travels that in the few instances where accessing routine medical care and Rx meds were a necessity, it has been relatively easy.

 

[TwoByFour]

Cipro--

It saved our bacon once in Mexico when we got a really bad case of gastroenteritis. Very effective for that.

My wife can no longer take it though - Cipro can cause A-fib, which for her would be serious. It is a harsh antibiotic so be careful with it.

 

[The Rodent]

Also, had a great experience with Costco for a recent trip to Africa. They responded faster than my Medicare Advantage provider (Kaiser Permanente). I would use them again in a hot minute and bypass Kaiser.

 

[H2ODude]

Visited our son in Mali in 2004. Got several shots and IIRC the county health department here was only place that had most of them available. The cost was minimal....until I got a letter two years later wanting something like $800. Claimed they had a delay and now wanted the money as the insurance company denied. It took a while, insurance company did research and they had never filed a claim with them. That was quite a flame of a letter I sent the county; finally did get an apologetic latter. All sorts of excuses about changes in computer systems, yalta yalta.

 

[candrew]

Received my Hep A vaccine at Costco pharmacy today. Our ACA marketplace health plan covered it 100% as a "preventive service" (deductible does not have to met).