• Flu shots are considered preventative care for AmeriHealth members and are covered 100% when given by your primary care physician.
• If you choose to receive your flu shot somewhere else, such as a pharmacy, you are entitled to a $25 reimbursement. Click here for the printable reimbursement form.
   

• Horizon members will be receiving letters in the beginning of October with information on where and how to get your flu shot. Horizon members with perscription benefits will be able to go to CVS pharmacy, show their ID card, and receive their flu shot free of charge. CVS pharmacies can see if the member is eligible by looking the member up in the CareMark eligibility system. 
• For those fully insured employees who do not have perscription benefits through CareMark, they will be mailed a voucher for reimbursment.
• Please wait to receive your letter from Horizon before getting your flu shot if you're unsure of your benefits.

• Aetna members can click here for information on where they can receive their flu shot and how to submit a claim for reimbursment if they are required to pay out of pocket.

• For most plans, the member copayment is waived when the vaccination is the only service received during an office visit with your primary care physician (PCP). Please check with your PCP before receiving your vaccination to verify your payment responsibility. 

The CDC recommends that people get their seasonal flu vaccine as soon as vaccine becomes available in their community. Vaccination before December is best since this timing ensures that protective antibodies are in place before flu activity is typically at its highest. The CDC continues to encourage people to get vaccinated throughout the flu season, which can begin as early as October and last as late as May. Over the course of the flu season, many different influenza viruses can circulate at different times and in different places. As long as flu viruses are still spreading in the community, vaccination can provide protective benefit.

While everyone should get a flu vaccine each flu season, it's especially important that the following groups get vaccinated either because they are at high risk of having serious flu-related complications or because they live with or care for people at high risk for developing flu-related complications:

1. Pregnant women
2. Children younger than 5, but especially children younger than 2 years old
3. People 50 years of age and older
4. People of any age with certain chronic medical conditions
5. People who live in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities
6. People who live with or care for those at high risk for complications from flu, including:
   1. Health care workers
   2. Household contacts of persons at high risk for complications from the flu
   3. Household contacts and out of home caregivers of children less than 6 months of age (these children are too young to be vaccinated)

Charlene Koshland

Licensed Account Manager