Will Medicare Cover New Shingles Vaccine

Medicare coverage for shingrix and zostavax the two commercially available shingles vaccines is provided only if you are enrolled in a stand alone part d drug plan or a medicare advantage plan that includes part d drug coverage.

Will medicare cover new shingles vaccine. Medicare part a hospital insurance or medicare part b medical insurance doesn t cover the shingles shot. To get this covered you must enroll in either a stand alone medicare prescription drug plan pdp or a medicare advantage plan that includes prescription drug coverage also known as medicare advantage prescription drug plan. Original medicare part a hospital coverage and part b medical coverage doesn t cover the shingles vaccine. Medicare part b covers a small handful of vaccines for the flu hepatitis b and the pneumococcal pneumonia vaccine.

While original medicare medicare part a and part b does not cover the shingles vaccine called shingrix some medicare advantage plans and some medicare part d plans may offer coverage for the vaccine. Medicare requires part d plans to cover the shingles vaccine so if you re enrolled in part d you shouldn t. However there are other medicare plans that may cover at least part of the costs. The devil is in the details.

Here s the quick answer. Original medicare part a and part b does not cover the shingles vaccination but medicare part d does. Generally medicare prescription drug plans part d cover all commercially available vaccines like the shingles shot needed to prevent illness.