COVID-19 vaccines could be expensive for uninsured residents now that the federal Bridge Access Program has ended. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images.
For the 6% of Marylanders who do not have health care coverage, getting a COVID-19 vaccine could be more expensive than in previous years — costing upwards of $200 for one shot.
That’s because a federal program that provided free vaccinations for those uninsured and underinsured ended in late August, even as federal health officials are urging people to get the newest version of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Bridge Access Program was created at the height of the global health crisis. But as the severity of the pandemic waned over the years, so has federal funding to keep those programs active.
“If you are someone who is uninsured or underinsured … the Bridge Program was designed to cover those kinds of folks. And those folks right now have limited options for getting vaccinated,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.
That has left state and local health departments scrambling to find resources to help vaccinate the uninsured population for COVID-19 ahead of the holidays.
“The timing is unfortunate, to say the least,” Nina Ashford, chief of public health services at the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services.
The Maryland Department of Health is working to buy vaccines that it can make available uninsured residents, but first needs to find funding. After that, other details will have to be worked out, said state officials, such as determining how best to distribute vaccines. A state official said the department is optimistic it can work it out.
Maryland COVID-19 data
Maryland Matters has been tracking COVID-19 cases, deaths, hospitalizations in the state and demographic information since the start of the pandemic. You can check out all the data here.
Some county health departments are also weighing their options while they wait to hear more from the state.
A communications officer with the Anne Arundel County Department of Health said in an email that it is trying to determine if it can buy COVID-19 vaccines to help uninsured residents, but those details are not yet finalized either.
Other counties may struggle to secure additional vaccines for uninsured residents, Ashford said.
“We’re going to be relying on our community-based partners, our federally qualified health centers that serve our residents to fill in the gap, because we don’t have the vaccine supply or the budgetary dollars to be able to do that,” she said.
Meanwhile, Benjamin believes that the end of the federal program is troubling.
“We want to get everybody vaccinated, but now we have a system that doesn’t have everybody in it,” Benjamin said.
There is still coverage for some of the most vulnerable populations. The federal Vaccines for Children program just passed its 30th year of providing free vaccinations for children of low-income families, which includes the COVID-19 vaccine. Those aged 65 and older can have COVID-19 vaccinations covered by Medicare, the federal health care plan for retirees. Medicaid also covers the vaccine for low-income residents.
But for everyone else, Benjamin worries that the additional cost could lead to fewer adults getting vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that as of May, the most recent date for which it has numbers, only 22.5% of adults nationally had reported getting a dose of last year’s COVID-19 vaccine.
As of now, options are slim for uninsured residents.
Benjamin recommends calling local health departments to see if there are free clinics or other options to get a free COVID-19 shot before paying out of pocket. He also noted that adults without underlying conditions are less likely to suffer from severe disease.
“If you’re young and healthy and don’t have any chronic diseases – I always encourage you to get vaccinated – but you’re not the first-line priority population,” he said. “If you’re somebody who has underlying chronic disease and you’re uninsured, I encourage you to call your state or local health department and talk with them to see what your options are.”
While it is not as severe as surges in previous pandemic years, Maryland and the rest of the nation are currently experiencing higher COVID-19 hospitalizations due to a summer spike, and a winter spike is expect just around the corner. According to the most recent data from the Maryland Department of Health, more than 250 people were in the hospital with COVID-19 in the first few days of September. More than a dozen Marylanders still die every week from the disease, the department reports.
Ashford noted that the recent uptick in cases and infections will provide some immunity and defense for those who have recently caught and recovered from the virus. But she thinks the end of the Bridge Access Program will make it harder for the uninsured to use one of the main tools to defend against COVID-19 infections — a vaccination.
“We have a tool that works. We know that immunizations are key to preventing adverse outcomes. And were going into the holiday season, we’re going into the back-to-school season,” she said. “We don’t have this resource at our disposal, and it almost feels like we didn’t learn very much from the pandemic.”
Local News
