Remember the concern about showing your health insurance

[MineralMan]

card when getting the COVID-19 vaccination? Some people didn't understand why they had to do that. "I thought it was free," they said. I understood fully when I went for my annual physical a couple of weeks after getting the second vaccination. My Medicare Advantage plan had reported my vaccination directly to my clinic and doctor. As soon as he came into the exam room he said, "I see you got your Covid shots! Excellent."

It was all in my health care records. The vaccination center reported it to my insurance company, which knows who my primary care physician and clinic are.

It wasn't about who pays. It was about medical records. Sometimes it's good when healthcare information is shared.

[littlemissmartypants]

1. And the EHR aka electronic health record is mandated by law.

It is designed to provide transparent sharing across agencies. It's been exceptionally valuable in the time of covid.

[redstatebluegirl]

2. I noticed that when I went for my yearly exam last week.

They knew I had gotten the vaccine, which one and what date. I assumed it was from my medicare card and United Healthcare card I gave them when I checked in.

[Effete Snob]

3. No, it was about who pays

If you are insured, your insurance paid the administration fee.

If you are not insured, the government paid it.

But in order for the government to pay it, the provider had to indicate that you did not have insurance. To know whether or not you have insurance, the provider has to ask you for it.

We've gone over this before, in a long thread where someone's insurance was not accepted by the drugstore in question.

Reporting to your doctor is not why they ask for your insurance information.

[Effete Snob]

4. Here:

This is how it works. It is absolutely about who pays:

https://www.cms.gov/covidvax-provider

Providers who have questions about billing or reimbursement of vaccine administration for patients covered by private insurance or Medicaid should contact the respective health plan or state Medicaid agency. People without health insurance or whose insurance doesn't provide coverage of the vaccine can also get COVID-19 vaccines at no cost.

Providers administering the vaccine to people without health insurance can request reimbursement for the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine through the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) COVID-19 Uninsured Program.

They have to ask, because it would otherwise be fraudulent to bill the US government when the patient is insured.

Insurers are required to cover the cost of the shot for their customers.

Your statement that "It wasn't about who pays" is simply not correct.

We had a big-ass long thread explaining this, over the objections of many who desired to remain adamantly ignorant, in the context of someone with a kind of threadbare insurance that Walgreen's doesn't accept:

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/100215687867

The upshot was that the person could not be vaccinated at Walgreen's because (a) they HAVE insurance, so the government will not pay, and (b) Walgreen's could not get reimbursement from the government, because the patient has insurance.

After calling the OP a liar for a while, most people caught on.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

5. Interestingly when I went to Walgreens for my vaccinations they didn't ask me squat about

my insurance.

However that may be because I get my Rx's there and I signed up for the appt. through my Walgreens app ... so they probably were able to connect my shot with the ins. co. who pays for my prescriptions.

[rsdsharp]

12. I went to a grocery store pharmacy for mine.

They didn’t ask for ID or insurance, either. It wasn’t the store where we get our prescriptions, but it was part of the same chain.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

16. I'm surprised they didn't want ID.

The pharmacy that gave me the Moderna shots told me it was required.

In Ohio, Covid vaccine administrators are required to submit the ID's of their recipients to the state.

https://www.ohiopublichealthreporting.info/Enrollment/FileSystem/HL7/Public_Instructions_to_access_ImpactSIIS_record.pdf

(Text)
COVID-19 vaccine providers in Ohio are required to report patient information into the ImpactSIIS system when the COVID-19 vaccine is administered. If you have received the COVID-19 vaccine in Ohio, your information should be in the system.

And it's that way in EVERY state, except New Hampshire for some reason, according to a USA Today article that I read months ago. Well, places like NYC keep those vaccination records locally rather than with their state too.

[Effete Snob]

15. They already have your information on file

[kcr]

11. I did not have to show an insurance card n/t

[hibbing]

6. I never had to show anything

Went to a public vaccination at a high school, filled out a form, nothing about insurance, but maybe they indicated my employer on the form? I really dont know, I just know I did not need my insurance card or had to fill out any insurance information.

Peace

[Fla Dem]

9. I don't remember having to show any insurance card either.

[Rebl2]

7. I never had

to show my insurance card, yet some how it’s in my medical records at my preferred hospital. Don’t know how. I got my first two vaccines at a hospital I have never been to and my booster at a drug store that I do get my scripts from.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Does it follow from state to state?

I know I'm in the state database where I had the shots. But not in the state I now live in. So really not sure where to get the booster. The card is one record, that will likely be easy. The digital records not so much.

[bottomofthehill]

10. Funny, I got mine at work, did not have to provide insurance info

Now Blue Cross is offering me 50 dollars to get the vaccine. I think I will get the booster at CVS or Walgreens and pick up an extra 50 bucks in the process.

[Zeitghost]

13. I wasn't asked for insurance

But then i was also never asked for ID.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

14. I'm still not sure it was necessary because...

... every shot administrator had to report the ID of their Covid vaccination recipients to their state boards of health. The only exception was New Hampshire, according to a USA Today article from months ago.

I assume NH records it in some other way, like some big cities like NYC which instead keeps those records locally.

It didn't bother me to show the pharmacy my health insurance card too, though.

EDIT: The USA Today article was about the idea of vaccine passports, and how it COULD be verified by state boards of health if that's what this country decided to pursue. Much more than just a CDC card, which could be faked as easily as a phony Social Security card. It's not so simple to fake an account with the actual Social Security Administration, though, much like trying to fake records held by state boards of health!