I just scheduled the appointment for our travel vaccinations. Gladney suggests we get vaccinated for the following:
Yellow fever
Hepatitis A and B
Tetanus
Typhoid
Meningitis
The grand total for vaccinations for the both of us is $804!!!! They told me they were going to give us receipts with codes on them and we could file it with our insurance, but that they do not accept insurance. I scheduled the appointment for next Wednesday, but when I told the lady on the phone that it was my husband’s birthday, she made me change the appointment. She said he shouldn’t have to come on his birthday! We are going next Thursday instead.
So, for any adoptive families who have traveled or will soon travel, I have a couple of questions:
1. Did you get vaccinated for all five? (We will not be traveling outside of Addis)
Yellow fever
Hepatitis A and B
Tetanus
Typhoid
Meningitis
The grand total for vaccinations for the both of us is $804!!!! They told me they were going to give us receipts with codes on them and we could file it with our insurance, but that they do not accept insurance. I scheduled the appointment for next Wednesday, but when I told the lady on the phone that it was my husband’s birthday, she made me change the appointment. She said he shouldn’t have to come on his birthday! We are going next Thursday instead.
So, for any adoptive families who have traveled or will soon travel, I have a couple of questions:
1. Did you get vaccinated for all five? (We will not be traveling outside of Addis)
2. Did you find a place that accepted insurance?
11 comments:
We got all 5 of those that you listed. Our insurance would only cover the tetanus. For us, the Hep A and B shots came in a series. We took the initial vaccination then had to go back at 1 month post and 6 months post initial vaccine. Not sure if that's standard or not.
Good luck! Take some tylenol!
Check with your insurance and see what they will cover. Our insurance would not cover any shots that were travel related. Meaning, the only reason for some of those shots are if you are traveling. Our insurance did cover our Hep A & B shots because they were doctor recommended. We went to our family doctor for the shots our insurance covered and the travel clinic for the ones they wouldn't.
We received all of those shots except for the Meningitis. We did decided to get a Polio booster since the Polio shot is only good for ten years.
Pretty smart to not make your husband get them on his birthday. That wouldn't be a very good present!
Good luck!
Hi Katie...we are only doing Hep A and B. Several of those are mostly high risk in lower altitude areas, and not a high risk for Addis. After asking around to other adoptive families, we found many have done the same and been just fine. We like to do as little as possible with vacs anyhow...that's just us. We didn't want to spend so much out of pocket for something we didn't feel was a necessity.
Our insurance covered one of the Hep shots...A I think, but not the other. Good luck!
I think it all depends on your insurance plan. We got lucky and they covered all of it so we had them done with an infectious disease specialist within the same practice as our regular doctor. If we hadn't been covered we would have gone to a travel clinic.
As for shots, we got all the ones you mentioned except meningitis (sp?!) because the CDC at the time was saying it wasn't needed for travel to Addis. I haven't gone back to look to see if that has changed. We also got a Polio booster per our Dr.'s recommendation.
Also a note on the the series of shots for Hep A & B. Our doctor told us we only needed to go back for the 6 month follow-up if we cared about the vacine being good for 10 years. Apparently you're covered for this trip with the one shot but you need the booster if you want it to last longer.
We also did the 5 listed and a polio and the Hep A & B is in a series, you must go back 1 month later for another plus 6 months after that for the last one. Usually you will have traveled after the second dose though!! Good Luck. Our insurance didn't cover anything!! Still worth it of course...
Thanks everyone. I think I will call my insurance company and see if they will cover any of the vaccinations. If so, I am hoping they can direct me to a clinic or doctor's office that will accept insurance and also has the vaccinations.
Personally, I'd skip the yellow fever vax. It isn't required to get into Ethiopia, it's expensive, and the shot can make you feel lousy. We got bad advice and the shot at the last minute (we went to a different clinic a month after our earlier rounds) and while we weren't sick, we were poorer!
Please double check with Gladney on the Yellow Fever shot! I heard it is required! We all got the shot and we were fine. No after effects at all! Just check with your own case worker!
To be safe, you don't want any delays you can avoid early!!
L.L.
Hey Katie!
I found that either you paid a ton or waited forever to get the vaccinations. We kinda slacked off, too...I didn't even look into the vaccinations until the last week before we left. To answer your questions:
1. Did you get vaccinated for all five? (We will not be traveling outside of Addis)
We only were vaccinated for Hepatitis A and B. Our doctor said that Hep B was the most important. An FYI - none are required for entry.
2. Did you find a place that accepted insurance?
My insurance covered our shots, but I think that was a fluke. He must have labeled the visit in such a way that it got covered. I say this because I called Blue Cross Blue Shield directly and they said no, they definitely don't cover vaccinations (which is strange), although they are covered by Health Flexible Spending Account funds.
Good luck!
Phil
FYI - if you are confused re: yellow fever (some sites say different things), it used to be required, but now it is only required if you are traveling from a country that is flagged as having yellow fever. The US is not, so you're not required to get vaccinated if you're flying from the US.
Phil
we got all those shots. the place we went to had a paper to fill out and one of the questions asked if we had high insurance deductibles. the state covered a lot of the expense because of this. we live in texas. just though i would mention it in case your state offers this as well. it cut our bill in half.
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