Health insurance providers deliver COVID-19 vaccine education and access.
A that the COVID-19 vaccines have already saved nearly 280,000 lives and prevented 1.25 million hospitalizations in the United States alone. Yet today COVID-19 鈥渉otspots鈥� in the United States are developing in areas with lower rates of immunization.
Encouraging and enabling eligible people to get vaccinated is still one of our best defenses against the disease. That鈥檚 why health insurance providers are meeting patients where they are, hosting clinics, offering transportation, partnering with community organizations, and arranging home visits to reduce barriers and make it easier for people to get vaccinated.
The June results from the show that 65% of U.S. adults reported having received at least one dose of the vaccine. The vaccine is free for all vaccine-eligible people in the United States, ensuring that cost is not a barrier for patients. Cost, however, isn鈥檛 the only barrier for many.
Social Factors and Vaccine Community Connectors
The KFF report notes , younger adults, and people with a high school degree or less. These populations are also among those hardest hit by the disease, due to underlying health and social factors.
鈥淭hroughout the pandemic, racial and geographic gaps in our nation鈥檚 health care system have shown disproportionate harm to many Black, Hispanic, rural and other underserved communities,鈥� said Tonya Adams, senior vice president of customer experience and operations at Regence BlueCross BlueShield, and spokesperson for the Vaccine Community Connectors (VCC) program.
Through the VCC program, health insurance providers helped to vaccinate more than 2 million seniors against COVID-19 in under 100 days. This partnership between AHIP, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, and more than 50 health insurance providers was initiated to help seniors in socially vulnerable communities