Seriously. What the fuck. I dont have an exact source but I read it / heard it a few days ago. Sorry but I dont get it. I really dont. I hope this turns out to be wrong but for some reason I dont think its gonna be.
I read somewhere that HMOs are a big cause of this. Getting people who don’t need a flu shoot (as they aren’t a risk of death from the flu) to get one because it lowers their costs.
Maybe flu shots are a low-margin, high-liability field so nobody likes to do it.
Medicare pays about $6.77 for the flu shot. You are not allowed to charge more for the injectable than your total cost. What a clinic CAN do is charge for an injection cost.
Since most private insurances won’t even cover it, the clinic I work in normally loses money on the flu shots. (There is no reimbursement by insurance, and maybe 98% of patients just tear up the bill and ignore it.)
That said, most clinics in the area love injectables and cosmetic procedures. People are very willing to pay for “allergy shots” (steroids, it really shouldn’t be used most of the time), botox, belly tucks, gastric bypasses. it’s very sad that many people won’t pay for what I consider more practical health procedures such as immunization (very cost effective).
I’ve heard that about vaccines in general, I believe.