Will Medicare Cover New Shingles Vaccine

The devil is in the details.

Will medicare cover new shingles vaccine.

Medicare requires part d plans to cover the shingles vaccine so if you re enrolled in part d you shouldn t. Original medicare part a and part b does not cover the shingles vaccination but medicare part d does. Medicare part a hospital insurance or medicare part b medical insurance doesn t cover the shingles shot. Medicare coverage for shingrix and zostavax the two commercially available shingles vaccines is provided only if you are enrolled in a stand alone part d drug plan or a medicare advantage plan that includes part d drug coverage.

On the other hand medicare part d or a medicare advantage plan that includes part d coverage typically does cover the vaccine. To get this covered you must enroll in either a stand alone medicare prescription drug plan pdp or a medicare advantage plan that includes prescription drug coverage also known as medicare advantage prescription drug plan. Surprisingly original medicare parts a and b doesn t cover the shingles vaccine even though it covers other vaccines like the flu vaccine and pneumonia shot. Original medicare part a hospital coverage and part b medical coverage doesn t cover the shingles vaccine.

Medicare part b covers a small handful of vaccines for the flu hepatitis b and the pneumococcal pneumonia vaccine. Generally medicare prescription drug plans part d cover all commercially available vaccines like the shingles shot needed to prevent illness. Contact your medicare drug plan for more information about coverage.