"Adults 18 years and older without health insurance and adults whose health insurance does not cover all COVID-19 vaccine costs can get updated COVID-19 vaccines at no cost through the Bridge Access Program."
@kissane
Bridge Access isn't going to do a lot of people much good unless Wal Mart gets on board: Walgreens and CVS aren't exactly everywhere and I don't know how the hell you even find an eTrueNorth pharmacy short of calling around.
@kissane And today the answer I got from the pharmacist (while he was reading the vaccines.gov webpage from my phone) was "that's not what the email from CVS said, I'd have to call CVS (his employer) and talk to someone..." with the clear implication that he had better things to do with his day. I walked out.
@kissane I got the latest Moderna COVID spikevax at Walgreens yesterday. It took almost an hour. The tried using my health insurance card first for 20m,then I gave them my Medicare card. Finally they asked for my license and I was able to get the vaccine. Sounds like the Bridge Access program. They were very stressed so I didn’t get many details why this was so hard.
@Susan_Larson_TN I don't either. I went through the Bridge Access website to make an appointment but it's confusing whether I'll be charged because it redirects to Walgreens to choose an appointment but says nothing about Bridge Access.
@Susan_Larson_TN@Axomamma So this is all hearsay, but what I'm seeing on the thread I made on Bluesky, which went berserk, is that if you're actually uninsured, it's pretty straightforward as long as the drugstore has doses in stock.
If you're insured but your insurer hasn't got around to doing its paperwork yet, you may be asked to pay full price or told to return in a few weeks. I'm not sure that's actually legal, but no one seems to be handling it, so people are at the mercy of pharmacies.
@kissane@Susan_Larson_TN@Axomamma Ya, that is pretty much what CVS told us when we went last Friday. Mother in Law needs to wait a week or two for medi-CAL/medicare to get their reimbursement paperwork in place. The out of pocket price they quoted us was $120, but I see a lot of folks saying they were charged ~$190.
@kissane thank you a million times over for posting about this (and for all the other covid posts!) I had (very reluctantly) not planned on getting a booster until I had new insurance but scraped around for an appointment once I read up on this!
(the news is covering bridge access now but the appointments here are alllll gone. Central OR is really into this one I guess? Or the stores are mis-managing it.)
@kissane We wouldn't NEED a BS "Bridge Program" (more hurdles, more lies) if the companies did not CHARGE >$120 per SHOT for a $2 shot WE PAID for (and German people). If Biden hadn't prematurely ended the COVID Emergency. If he'd push a DPA or NIH would do march-in on Moderna. Instead, pandering to #PandemicProfiteers committing #EconomicGenocide
@kissane I think they fuck up things like this on purpose. Which makes it not a fuckup, but theft and murder. When the dust settles a lot of people will have paid out of pocket and never been reimbursed, or just not got the shot. "We apologize for any oversight blah blah". Bastards.
@kissane I hate CVS. I had an appointment today to get the vaccine and they texted me last night canceling because they didn't have it. 😡
Sadly they're the only pharmacy that has so many locations around here. They're like McDonald's except the stores are not run quite as well.
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