I’m unsure whether or not discretionary yellow fever vaccines are simply this costly in the US, if I simply skilled a little bit of a markup, or if I used to be completely taken for a trip.
I made a yellow fever vaccine appointment with Passport Well being
For fairly a while I’ve been which means to get the yellow fever vaccine. I imagine I bought the vaccine a few years in the past (once I was a child), however I don’t have proof of it at this level.
Lengthy story brief, I wish to overview extra African airways, and plenty of African nations require proof of yellow fever vaccination (and different nations require proof of yellow fever vaccination if arriving from a rustic the place that’s a threat).
I’ve a possible journey in just a few weeks the place I’m contemplating a routing which may require yellow fever vaccination, so a number of days in the past I made an appointment to lastly get that finished.
I searched on-line for someplace close to me the place I may get a yellow fever vaccination, and Passport Well being got here up. This can be a journey medication firm that claims to have 270+ areas round the US. I briefly searched on-line in regards to the firm and didn’t discover any crimson flags. Moreover, the placement I used to be going to principally acquired superb evaluations.
I booked the appointment over the New Yr vacation, so their places of work have been closed on the time, however making an appointment on-line was straightforward. The web site didn’t record the price for any vaccines. My assumption was that the pricing could be according to what different journey clinics cost, provided that the corporate is massive and appears to get at the least considerably good evaluations.
Anyway, I simply had my vaccination appointment this afternoon, and I used to be shocked by the value…
How a lot my yellow fever vaccine appointment value
I visited Passport Well being this afternoon. It was positioned inside an enormous workplace constructing, and as I walked into Passport Well being, I instantly requested myself “how does this place earn money?” This Passport Well being location had an enormous workplace with a single nurse working.
Effectively, I feel I understand how they earn money — my appointment value me a complete of $483. This features a $99 “workplace go to” price (I acquired a $10 low cost for finishing my well being type on-line), and $394 for the precise vaccine. The “workplace go to” is required to get a vaccine, and included sharing necessary info, like not consuming faucet water in Africa (okay, bought it).
Once I was informed the value I used to be completely shocked. I had searched on-line, and I noticed costs all over, however there was a common vary:
- Clearly these vaccines are less expensive in Africa, which is truthful sufficient (because it’s an important well being concern in some nations, reasonably than being for discretionary journey), and plenty of airports will administer them for underneath $50
- I see one web site suggesting that the typical value of a yellow fever vaccine in the US is $170, whereas the Florida Division of Well being appears to cost $221.22 for the vaccine
- For personal clinics, it does appear that the admin price is a typical factor that’s charged along with the vaccine value, although it appears like Passport Well being appears to have a few of the highest vaccine prices
So I did get completely screwed right here, proper? Like, is that this simply towards the higher restrict of pricing for the vaccine, or does this match within the “freeway theft” camp?
Let me 100% acknowledge that I ought to have finished my analysis upfront. I share this expertise not as a result of I’m happy with having overpaid for a vaccine, however as a result of I hope others will study from it and never make the same mistake.
I’m positive some folks can at the least recognize how this occurred. I made the appointment over the vacations as a result of I had a second to catch my breath and get just a few issues off my “to do” record. It has been a busy week (life all the time feels busy when you’ve got an toddler), after which this morning I checked out my calendar and mentioned “oh, I’ve that appointment at present.”
Then my appointment had a cancelation price, so it’s not like I may stroll out at that time. And for that matter, purely by way of valuing my time, I didn’t wish to waste a few hours going by means of the entire course of once more (between driving and being within the workplace).
To be truthful, I used to be out and in very quickly, and the nurse working on the workplace was very good.
If I did overpay a lot, my solely query is whether or not I ought to go away a web based overview? After the appointment I bought a message asking me to charge my expertise, so… I really feel like I ought to try this? First I simply wished to make it possible for I’m not off base right here, as a result of I don’t wish to be unfair, given how good the nurse was.
Backside line
On the plus aspect, I lastly bought round to getting the yellow fever vaccine, which opens up numerous thrilling Africa journey for me. Sadly it value me practically $500, which is (I feel) outrageous. It appears that evidently you’ll pay an absolute minimal of $200 for this in the US, however between the $394 vaccine and the $89 “service,” I ended up paying much more.
So, simply how outrageous was this yellow fever vaccine pricing?
