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Comment by pjc50 | Hacker News Reader

> The grocer also promised workers receiving vaccines that they would not lose pay for missed hours from work and that it would help pay for the shots.

This is actually the more important bit. If your country is so dysfunctional as to not provide free vaccination for this, and the employee is stretched so thinly that they don't have time to get it without losing pay, then both of these are required.

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So, COVID vaccines will be free in the US. As for other vaccines, it’s highly variable. But at least, for once, for medical stuff, there’s a price list!

https://www.walgreens.com/topic/pharmacy/healthcare-clinic/p...

And there are vaccine clinics and discounts and blah blah blah. The cost, as in what you pay at the register, is manageable.

What’s less manageable, and is actually the point in what you quoted, is getting time off to go to the damn clinic. Oh my god, the grocery store is not going to put me on probation for missing a shift to get a shot? And they’re actually going to arrange it so I don’t have to fight my way through public health red tape? That’s the big deal.

> country is so dysfunctional as to not provide free vaccination for this

Vaccines are free in most Eu countries and the USA... not sure what you’re on about

Are the vaccines really free in the US or will hospitals still catch you with copay, deductibles and other stuff?

A lot of people in US retail don’t have sick leave and make very little money. For them taking some unpaid time off to be vaccinated would be a big problem.

Same happens with elections being done on Tuesdays. Many people simply can’t afford to go voting.

> Are the vaccines really free in the US or will hospitals still catch you with copay, deductibles and other stuff?

Yes they are free and there can be no cost sharing of any kind in the USA - insured and uninsured get if free. Same goes for most countries in the EU.

Vaccines are only paid for by the government in the USA for low-income, uninsured kids. If you're insured, you likely have a copay and if you're not medicaid-eligible and high-income, you likely have to pay out of pocket.

You're thinking of Medicaid and general vaccines. The coronavirus vaccines specifically have no costs for any individuals.

If you're insured, more likely than not you don't have a copay for general vaccines like flu shots; they're considered preventative care and most health care plans are required to cover them for free.

This is wrong. In the U.S., the COVID vaccine is covered by health insurance if you have it (at no cost to the patient), or by the government if you do not.

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