Immunizations and greedy insurance companies.

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Specializes in Med Surg, PCU, Travel.

What I'd like to know is where to go to get my vaccines updated. So I had a straight talk with my insurance company UHC and they were like yeah clinic X covers it. I go to clinic X and they said they've had other patients with UHC and nope they don't cover it.

I go online,look at my preventative care list, yep its covered but I can't find that particular branch of clinic X so I call back UHC and they said they are not sure and will call me back tommorrow.

Here's another example I go in for a preventative care visit with my doctor thinking everything 100% covered, today get a bill for $170 dollars. Call UHC they say oh well this part of my exam was diagonistic, that other part not covered, the other part not covered. I'm a totally healthy person, all i did was blood screening and an ekg.I pay these idiots a premimum every month thinking when i go for preventative service it will somehow pay for itself...yeah right.

Why the hell can't I ever get a straight answer from doctors and insurance companies on what I will have to pay??? How did you guys get your vaccines done? I tried the local health dept and they are charging an arm and a leg, for e.g each hep B shot is $75, yet I read some health dept give it free or like $20.

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I only got the hep b at the Health dept. $45 per shot. Had to get titers and tetorifice at the docs. I have BCBS. The nurse who drew my blood said I'm warning you your insurance isn't going to cover this. Unsaid yeah yeah whatever. Just got a bill from BCBS for $900 some odd dollars. I'm ****** right now. Plus I had all my immunizations (thanks for the titers telling me so) but I wasn't immune for hep b. so disgusted.

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I looked up the minute clinic and their prices are pretty reasonable for the required shots. I'm going to get my TB test done there and it's $39 which is great since it isn't covered by my insurance. Good Luck!

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I was also told by my insurance (BCBS) that if I were to get the required updated shots during a wellness visit then it would be covered 100% by insurance but if I went in for any other reason then it wouldn't be covered......I guess it's all based upon how it's coded by the doctor's office.

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I was also told by my insurance (BCBS) that if I were to get the required updated shots during a wellness visit then it would be covered 100% by insurance but if I went in for any other reason then it wouldn't be covered......I guess it's all based upon how it's coded by the doctor's office.

I got covered for tetorifice and TB. but not the titers.

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They covered the TB test too? Maybe I'll have to call and see what they say. Thank you for the info!

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Specializes in Med Surg, PCU, Travel.
I only got the hep b at the Health dept. $45 per shot. Had to get titers and tetorifice at the docs. I have BCBS. The nurse who drew my blood said I'm warning you your insurance isn't going to cover this. Unsaid yeah yeah whatever. Just got a bill from BCBS for $900 some odd dollars. I'm ****** right now. Plus I had all my immunizations (thanks for the titers telling me so) but I wasn't immune for hep b. so disgusted.

well I had my titers done as part of my preventative visit and all were covered EXCEPT for the Hep B titer, which I called ahead, UHC said yep its all free and covered, so I called back and asked UHC why I was billed $80 for the Hep B titer aka antibody test their excuse was the antibody test has not been proven to be reliable in clinical studies and its not paid for ever! I was an EMT between 1999 and 2004 I know I had the Heb B series already but I got no proof since it was done overseas. The Hep B anti body test was negative:sour: so I paid $80 for nothing plus I still gotta retake the whole series again due to that false result:sour:. varicella was positive since i know i had chicken pox as a child and MMR were all positive. My freaking insurance has a clause that says, not paying for immunizations if its for school...I pay these fools almost $2000 per year and they cant give me free vaccines?....thats just a bunch of Malarkey:sour:

P.S Students, dont bother to get a Hep B antibody test its unreliable, just retake the series save some $$$

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when i startedd nursing school, my old family doc was still in practice. He told me don't bother with the titres because it is cheaper to just get the vac.!

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Specializes in Med Surg, PCU, Travel.

ok well I made a few calls and it turns out my student health center offers all these immunizations and the costs are like $37 for each shot....However they BILL to the insurance...which is even better:woot: check with your university/school see if they have an immunization program like this.

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Specializes in ED, trauma.

If you had your immunizations done in the US, you can ask any physician you currently are to pull the records from department of health.

I had my vaccination record pulled up by my current physician. The staff managed to pull it up in time to save me from paying for an additional vaccine.

If you have UHC, also ask the physician office about a "nurse only" visit. They don't bill for these, this is how I do my TB test and vaccines as needed. I have never had to pay for titers or anything with them, but my records were available within this country.

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