Federal Government promises to pay for COVID-19 vaccine

While the entire world wait for the much awaited vaccine for COVID-19, there are a lot of speculations about how much the vaccine would actually cost. But amidst worrying about the actual cost, here comes some relief from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (SMMS). The SMMS has assured that it will be paying for the COVID-19 vaccine that later gets approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. The initiative by the SMMS will allow the vaccine to reach maximum Americans.

The agency has assured that it will be working to help cover a large portion of the cost of the new COVID-19 treatments that might rollout with time. Seema Verma, the CMS administrator during a briefing said that there are a number of vaccines across the globe that are currently in the phase 3 trials, distribution plans and production while the CMS is doing it portion by doing the groundwork for payment and coverage when the vaccine actually comes out with all the essential approvals. Verma added that it will be available widely for the seniors and all the Americans.

The administrator has also instructed that while the federal government has taken up the responsibility of paying for the vaccine, it will be the duty of the insurers including the Medicaid, Medicare and the private plans to cover the cost of its administration. People who are Medicare recipients any vaccine would be covered by Medicare Part B and no cost will have to be borne by the beneficiaries.

Medicare Part B will be responsible to cover the visits of the doctors as well as outpatient services like screenings, tests and all the essential medical equipment. In terms of the costs, it has been estimated that if every senior is immunized, then that would cost around $2.6 billion, which will happen if everyone gets vaccinated in the Medicare Program. While the vaccines would be given for free, from the federal government, the providers might not charge for administering it.

Photo Credits: Pixabay