If federal funding runs out, the uninsured would have to pay for COVID vaccines out of pocket
If federal funding runs out, the uninsured would have to pay for COVID vaccines out of pocket
Moderna just announced that it is seeking Food and Drug Administration authorization for a fourth shot to guard against COVID-19. Pfizer did the same, for people 65 and up, earlier this week.
In the U.S., COVID vaccines are free for everyone. But federal pandemic health care funding is about to run out, which means, among other things, that vaccines will no longer be free for the uninsured.
If all this federal funding goes away, people without insurance will have to pay out of pocket for a COVID booster.
Sarah Priestle, owner of Hart Pharmacy in Cincinnati, said the price will depend on two things. There’s the cost of the actual vaccine, which, right now, the federal government buys and provides at no charge.
“What Pfizer and Moderna and Johnson & Johnson decide to charge us,” Priestle said, adding that that could be $10 or $100.
Plus the pharmacy’s administrative fee — the cost of paperwork and staffing. If you’re uninsured, the federal government currently covers that too. It’s around 40 bucks a shot.
In other words, the pharmacy has to charge a fee for all patients or none of them. And if it’s none of them, a lot of pharmacies couldn’t afford to do these vaccinations at all.
So if you’re uninsured — a little back-of-the-envelope math here — a COVID booster would probably cost between $50 and $150.
Susan Bellantonio is 63 and lives in Washington state. She’s uninsured, on Social Security and delivers for DoorDash. She’d like to get a booster when it’s time, but she can’t afford the high end of that range.
“Being on the extremely limited fixed income that I have, and the fact that DoorDash is, it’s almost a wash right now, I would have to go with the lower end, if at all,” Bellantonio said.
When we talked, she was at a McDonald’s picking up a DoorDash order. Sometimes she makes as little as $20 a day.
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