I don’t understand how healthcare works in this country, but I wanted a Novavax vaccine and Costco has it. Confusingly, Costco also tells you it’s a hundred dollars as you book it, but when you get there it’s 0 dollars (with insurance). Probably also still free for those without insurance. It feels very American to go get a vaccine at Costco. On cyber Monday. I don’t believe you need to be a member to use their pharmacy.
@skinnylatte@veleau_monica@divya Hey - I’ve had to manage healthcare benefits for a company AND worked at SF General and I don’t understand how it works here.
Or to put it another way, I understand that it doesn’t work.
@nwchapman@skinnylatte@divya I met a woman from Switzerland recently, who’s been in the US a year. She said everything (re healthcare) was confusing and I was like… yes but also another way to look at it is, everything in the US is designed to remove resources from the poor and give it to the rich.
@veleau_monica@nwchapman@divya It can be really good if (1) you understand it (2) have access to what you need. A lot of it depends on your employer and your location. Like everything else in the U.S., the top end is better than most other places in the world, but it falls out for everyone else.
@skinnylatte That does sound very American. It's still free here at pharmacies. I must get the new vaccination against the XBB.1.5 when it's available here soon, it's been more than 6 months since my last shot.
@zoey I think they list the out of pocket cost for every pharmacy service and item, but there is a list of vaccines that’s always free as part of the cdc’s program, but who knows for sure
@danilo@skinnylatte When I lived in Palo Alto near University Ave, I had good experiences with the Walgreens there until it closed around June 2020, mainly in the 3-6 months before it closed. The pharmacy staff were very helpful, and switching the same prescriptions to the CVS down the street was a pain.
@skinnylatte CVS has Novavax as well, on a drop-in basis. They won't let you book an appointment (I assume because of supply chain differences) but will direct you just to show up.
@skinnylatte I heard people reporting the Costco pharmacy experience as ranging from being casually waved in the general direction, to being escorted across the entire store by security guards to ensure you don't sneak off to buy fifty pounds of beef jerky and a set of snow tires or whatever.
@carraway They’re definitely weird about non-members, but it is official policy to be able to use the pharmacy without membership. Sadly I imagine in real life that comes down to a bouncer at a club / classist treatment.
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