Highway Robbery for a Flu Shot!!

[Christine]

My husband decided he wanted to get a flu shot this year. Due to his work schedules, he was unable to make any of the clinics that the drug stores and grocery stores held.

So, he calls our family physician last week to see if they are giving them. Yes, of course! So, my DH asks how much it will cost. The woman on the phone says "well, that depends on your co-pay." DH tells her that we don't have a co-pay, and that we pay a certain percentage of allowable charges. He then asks "what is your charge." She won't directly answer the question. He makes an appointment and gets his shot yesterday.

So, they charged $39 for a "brief patient visit" (he did not see a doctor but stood in a hallway with the nurse).
They charged $32 for the vaccine itself and another $10 to administer the shot. A total of $81 for a flu shot. Unbelievable.

You know, last month I had some special testing done where I had to get two injections of a medication on two different days. I paid for the medication under my prescription plan, but my doctor (not his nurse) administered the injection. They pulled my chart and took me back into the office where the doctor actually spoke with me on both days. I was not charged an office visit for either of these visits, just an injection fee of $15. (This was not the same office that did my DH's flu shot).

Do you think these costs are over the top?

 

[Chattyaholic]

I think it is horrible how much doctor's can charge for little things, like a flu shot. $39 for a "brief office visit" plus the cost of the shot AND a charge for injecting it?! Come on!! I don't blame you for being upset!

I'm supposed to have my eye pressure checked every 4 months. It takes approximately 2 minutes to have it done and I'm charged $150.
My health insurance doesn't pay, so I have to. Needless to say, I don't go as often as I'm supposed to. They used to charge $90 and I thought THAT was ridiculous, then last time they upped it to $150!! I get angry just thinking about it!!

 

[marciemi]

Sounds like a ripoff to me unless they did some other checking on him (blood test, blood pressure, temp, etc.) We got our flu shots at a drugstore, and our insurance only paid $22 of the $25 because the rest was above "usual and customary" charges. Sounds like your doc is way above!

 

[LisaNJ25]

Yikes! My insurance covers them 100% now if they have any extra is another story.

I knowCostco was doing them a few weeks ago.. I think it was either $18 or $28.

 

[Poohgirl]

Wow! yes I would say that is a lot. Our Dr. doesn't even charge for them, we have to go during scheduled "flu clinic" times then we end up getting a bill for under 5 dollars that says something to the effect that "because this bill is under 5 dollars please disregard" First time I got that one I was floored!

 

[minnieandme]

That is a bit outrageous. Maybe you should contact your ins. company and see what they say about it. You should also contact the dr. office again and ask them what they charge for a flu shot. See what they say this time.

 

[golfgal]

Our insurance covers them at 100% too. I don't have any idea how much the dr's office charges for them though. Our clinic does "shot only" visits for things like this though. We don't have to pay our co-pay for a shot only visit. I don't think that the $81 is over the top. I know that when we lived in South Dakota they charged an shot administration fee by law. We don't have that in MN. Every clinic is going to have their own system. I know once I took DS14 into the dr for an ear infection when he was a toddler and he had a lot of wax build-up in his ear, they charged for the wax removal, the one and ONLY time I had that charged and he always had to get wax taken out of his ear so they could see his ear drum.

 

[j's m]

I guess we're lucky. Our county holds flu shot clinics and there is NO charge at all. We got lucky and the wait wasn't too long, maybe a half hour but we got there early.

We have a $ 30 co pay with the doctors office, and I figure we saved $ 90.

 

[ACvmk]

Our insurance company doesn't cover flu shots. In fact, they don't cover any shots for my kids that aren't school mandated. I went to a CVS clinic (somes stores have them) and mine cost $25. Then we saw an ad for shots at Walgreens for $15/each. We had the kids' shots done there. Beats paying overinflated prices at the doctor's office not to mention not having to schedule an appointment, and waiting in a sickly doctor's office.

 

[qtwns]

Ouch! Talk about a painful flu shot. I'm sorry you ran into such a situation with your doc. My husband got his at work for $25--they had a health service come in to do it. I couldn't go that day (they were doing spouses also.) I happened to be in Walgreens a day later, and the clinic near the pharmacy was giving them for $15. I got mine, finished my shopping and left. Saved $10. Our family doc's supplier could get the vaccine tohim until mid-Dec. so he told them to forget it and was sending his patients other places for shots. I always schedule my 3 DSs annual exams in late Oct/early Nov. and get their shots then--$20 co-pay for each kid and I kill two birds with one stone.

 

[mrsmom]

If i would have went to the drs, i would have paid 20.00 co pay and i would have had to make an appt but instead i went to costco and got it for 18.00 over a month ago.
Kim

 

[Christine]

You know, I *expected* that the doctor's office would be higher but not THAT much higher. I figured they would charge me about $25 for the vaccine and then a fee for administering the shot.

Just down the road, my kids' pediatrician charges $20 for the vaccine and $10 for the shot/nurse--a total of $30.

 

[justjulie]

Our flu shots are free here and several workplaces, including mine, hire a nurse to come on-site to administer them.

 

[KirstenB]

Christine, that's a total ripoff!! I might even call the doctor and see if he/she knows they're charging this much. We live in a small county west of Richmond, and we get them at the health department for $25 each. Our insurance doesn't cover them. I know you live in a busy area, but next year, see if your health department has a flu clinic like ours does.

 

[camreesmom]

Our workplace does them for free but only for the employees. Our insurance only covers them up to age 5. So I had to pay $20 each for DD10 and DD7 to get them. I think it's still worth it not to have to miss work and pay for the prescriptions if they were to actually get the flu. I do think $81 is a bit much.

 

[JR6ooo4]

It is not the cost of the shot. It is the cost of what it takes to be a licensed provider of the shots.

So for the $89 shot,
you did get to stand in warm hallway, not a store, office space is not cheap
administered by someone who has at least half a decade of school and training
disposal of the contaminated syringe
someone to schedule appointments
insurance........

the bills never end.

Mikeeee

 

[Mono~rail]

Dr.'s have expenses associated with running a clinic. It costs money to own or rent an office. There are bills for the utilities. There are employees to pay. It would be nice if docs could do all their services for "free" or "cost" but, they can't. They have bills to pay, and most likely, a family to house, cloth, and feed just like the rest of us.

ETA: Malpractice insurance is probably one of a doc's most costly expenses.

I'm in Louisiana, and we have parish health units where you can go and get routine vaccinations (such as flu shots) for something like $5 each shot. I suppose other states have county health units. These health units are available for everyone since they are government funded through tax dollars.

 

[DVC-Don]

Wow! Our kids ped only charged our HMO $15 for each of thier shots. DW and & got ours at county health clinics and they charged our HMO only $12 each.

 

[Christine]

Dr.'s have expenses associated with running a clinic. It costs money to own or rent an office. There are bills for the utilities. There are employees to pay. It would be nice if docs could do all their services for "free" or "cost" but, they can't. They have bills to pay, and most likely, a family to house, cloth, and feed just like the rest of us.

I'm in Louisiana, and we have parish health units where you can go and get routine vaccinations (such as flu shots) for something like $5 each shot. I suppose other states have county health units. These health units are available for everyone since they are government funded through tax dollars.

I agree, and I didn't want my shot for "free" or "at cost" or even did I expect it to be as cheap as CVS or Costco. I expected the shot to cost $40--exactly what I pay when I take my kids to the pediatrician's office and get they same service--they also have an office, several receptionists, about 10 nurses, etc. Why the disparity?

 

[KristinBelle]

Wow, that stinks. We just got our shots for free at a flu shot clinic at the new urgent care center, we didn't have to wait in line and they even gave away all sorts of goodies too.


I hope you find a more reasonably priced one near you!