To date, roughly 75% of seniors age 65 and older are fully vaccinated with one of the three approved COVID-19 shots. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are trying to close that gap and get more seniors vaccinated by offering additional compensation for medical providers and facilities who visit these unvaccinated seniors in their home to administer the shot. Previously the compensation was $40 per dose. It’s now almost doubled to $75 per dose.
Vaccines are currently free for everyone living in the United States but the cost for administering the shot to people in their homes was previously not compelling enough for many medical providers. Therefore, the at-home service simply wasn’t as available as it needed to be for the remaining 25% of seniors who cannot travel easily but should be vaccinated due to their health vulnerabilities.
If you know someone who is currently insured through Original Medicare or Medicare Advantage and who still needs one or both vaccine shots, you should help them get signed up for this at-home vaccination service or to visit a vaccination site as soon as possible by following one of the instructions below, as instructed by CMS:
- Visit vaccines.gov (English) or vacunas.gov (Spanish) to search for vaccines nearby.
- Text GETVAX (438829) for English or VACUNA (822862) for Spanish for near-instant access to details on three vaccine sites in the local area.
- Call the National COVID-19 Vaccination Assistance Hotline at 1-800-232-0233 (TTY: 1-888-720-7489) for assistance in English and Spanish.
