op by Sunlit7
I finally hit a bit of pay dirt with my ongoing search for the cost involved of the "free" vaccines. According to an article on Yahoo web site today two people, one reported as uninsured and the other insured were both billed the exact same amounts by the hospital for their covid shots.
Claire Fallon, a freelance writer based in Jersey City, found out about the shots from the same mutual friend. Fallon, 33, sat just a few feet away from me in the waiting room; she told me later that at the time, she had recently joined her husband's insurance but didn't have a card yet. She and the nurse on duty decided she would simply be categorized as an "uninsured."
The first bill - from the hospital network, RWJBarnabas Health - showed up about two months later. Like mine, Fallon's was for $567, but hers came with an "uninsured discount adjustment" down to $73.71. Fallon later received an additional bill from the Jersey City Medical Center for $251.58. (https://www.yahoo.com/news/bewildering-ordeal-getting-billed-coronavirus-163824202.html)
When contacting the health network, RWJBarnabas Health about by the charges by the Washington Post the health provider said that the administration of the shots were billed to insurers but health screening prior to the shots were not.
RWJBarnabas said in a statement to The Washington Post that it "does not charge patients for the vaccine. Vaccine administration is billed to insurers. However, patients who receive medical screenings in our emergency department are billed for the emergency room visit, as is customary." (Although that's where the vaccinations took place, I received no other medical treatment.)
When you look at the uninsured to the insured amounts there isn't a huge difference, the uninsured persons amount came to 251.58 for the emergency room visit and the insured amount came to 225.37. That means for the administration charge for the vaccine was 315.42 for the uninsured and 343.61 for the insured.
Now to stay with me on this we have to look back at another article I highlighted awhile back on what medicaid/medicare was paying out for the vaccines at the beginning of this. It got confusing when he made the note of what medicaid/medicare was paying out for the administration fee plus vaccine. Then made a note it was more like eighty percent....the confusing part was listing the vaccine amount right next to the administration part. There isn't any percentage linked to administration cost factor, it's a pre-set contractual obligation between the government and providers, this year it's set at $144.00. The numbers listed after are the administration amount is that which the government was at that time covering in cost of the vaccines under medicaid/meidcare which is the twenty percent, they were covering twenty percent of the cost of the vaccines not the administration fee. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnlamattina/2021/04/15/surprising-cost-for-covid-19-vaccine-administration/?sh=492b2146362e)
So lets run this down, now remember both parties insured and uninsured got identical bills for cost totaling 567.00 each of which $251.58 for uninsured wasn't covered and $225.37 for insured wasn't covered as hospital visit costs. Once we deduct that amount we come down to just the amount involved in the administration fee and the cost of the vaccine. This was helpful in determining the cost being charged the vaccines as it took out any added equations that weren't covered. Meaning there's no other avenues left covered except what the government allows for administration of the vaccine, that encompasses to mean it covers the visit and someone giving the shot during that visit, the rest charged is the cost of the vaccine and what the government will pay and what an insurer will pay.
Uninsured: The total left for the uninsured out of the $567.00 was $315.43. You subtract the cost of administration fee of $144.00 and that leaves you with $171.42 for vaccine cost. Once you subtract those cost from the $567.00 it leaves you being billed 251.58 for an emergency room visit cost which isn't covered. This persons vaccine cost was reduced down because they were uninsured, it appears they got billed the share the government didn't pay as the $144.00 is set in pre-contractual agreements with medicaid/medicare and the amount paid through the stimulus for the uninsured is the same as which medicaid and medicare pay out. That would mean the government is paying $97.91 for the J&J shot which is the lowest priced vaccine that I am aware of. Now those within medicaid/medicare aren't paying out this price at a loss, they are either buying them at cost from with the department of health and human services or at a rate to make a profit. Same with health and human services, they are not selling these vaccines at a loss, it's at cost or a profit margin.
Insured: The total left for the uninsured out of the $567.00 was $343.61. You subtract the cost of the administration fee of $144.00 and that leaves you with 199.61. Once you subtract those cost from the $567.00 it leaves you being billed 223.39 for an emergency room visit cost which isn't covered. (Though the article has it at $225.37) This person the insurance company paid through the nose because they were insured.
Now here's the continuing clencher to all this. The government has complete control over the distribution of the vaccines. Are they still buying them cheap from the pharmaceutical companies and paying out or charging twenty percent at cost, it doesn't appear to be the case. I haven't seen any article depicting the pharmaceutical companies as having risen the prices dramatically. No one involved in all this is participating at a loss, they are all negotiating with a profit margin in mind. At these prices all we can assume at this point is there's a lot of people out there incentivized to lie about the science.
You would think that within the GAO would have the figures needed to find out exactly what is going on with the sale of these vaccines, not only what the government may be taking in but as we seen recently the incredible amount of historic intake on corporate taxes that were involved. This, in my opinion, is important in the scope that it's highly possible these vaccines are being used to finance their build back better agenda and could enable them to run through quite a bit of that agenda on a reconciliation.