If on any form of Medicare & getting COVID shot:

G

Geezerette

Senior Member
Bring your actual Medicare card with you in addition to insurance card.. I didn’t know that & had to go Back home & get it, even tho I have a BCBS Medicare advantage plan.
Got the shot this am at the closest Walmart. Had apt, no more work than getting an Rx. No lines!
 

Geezerette said:
Bring your actual Medicare card with you in addition to insurance card.. I didn’t know that & had to go Back home & get it, even tho I have a BCBS Medicare advantage plan.
Got the shot this am at the closest Walmart. Had apt, no more work than getting an Rx. No lines!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip. Not sure I can locate my Medicare card though...
 
Geezerette said:
Bring your actual Medicare card with you in addition to insurance card.. I didn’t know that & had to go Back home & get it, even tho I have a BCBS Medicare advantage plan.
Got the shot this am at the closest Walmart. Had apt, no more work than getting an Rx. No lines!
Click to expand...

Geezerette, did you get your appointment through the Health Dept? Or did you just call and make an appointment yourself? My sister and I are trying to navigate the same system, and any help would be very much appreciated. I registered both of us thru the Dept of Health and haven't heard anything else yet except to be patient. I'm especially concerned because my sister uses a walker and even with it she can't walk very far or stand for very long so she wouldn't be able to make it at some big vaccination site where she'd have to walk very far or wait a long time. Thanks for the tip about digging out our actual Medicare cards.
 

Butterfly, I registered with the DOH site when it first opened, got a” be patient”email then last week I got an email with a convenient appointment time at a Walmart at San Mateo & Zuni, for 2/3, which is way far from where I live. I called them to try to find out about lines etc & they weren’t very helpful.
Meanwhile the Pit opened with those huge lines and I know on my walker I couldn’t handle that.

Then 1/30 I was at “my” Walmart at Montgomery and Juan Tabo, and saw a sign at the pharmacy there that the only immunizations they were giving were COVID. I asked the Pharmacist how things worked because I really didn’t want to go way out to Zuni. She got into the DOH site and rescheduled my apt for that store, at 2/2.
So except for having to go get the Medicare card, it went very smoothly, a chair to wait on with just 2 ahead on me, a chair for the 15 min wait after. It was the Moderna vaccine.

I don’t know any ways to get a quicker response out of DOH, it my suggestion is when you or your sister do get offered an apt, if you don’t feel you or she can handle it mobility wise, go to your favorite Walmart and see if the Pharmacist can change you to their store or some other workable location. I have to say, I really like MY WM,always kind and helpful! And got handout of info about the vaccine etc.
Good luck! Also, the DOH then sent me an acknowledgment with the next apt.
 
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Rosemarie, it is covered under our Medicare or health insurance. I don’t know how it works if a person has neither, but everything ive read indicates it’s free.
 
Geezerette said:
Bring your actual Medicare card with you in addition to insurance card.. I didn’t know that & had to go Back home & get it, even tho I have a BCBS Medicare advantage plan.
Got the shot this am at the closest Walmart. Had apt, no more work than getting an Rx. No lines!
Click to expand...
My Dad got switched to a Medicare Advantage Plan and they told him to throw away his Medicare card
 
Gary, I hope he didn’t really do that. If it’s lost, he can go to Medicare web page and report it lost and get replaced. I saw on another forum that within 2 weeks they will send back a notice that the person is covered and 4 weeks a new card. I hadn’t expected having to use it, but tend to keep stuff like that anyway.
 
Geezerette said:
Butterfly, I registered with the DOH site when it first opened, got a” be patient”email then last week I got an email with a convenient appointment time at a Walmart at San Mateo & Zuni, for 2/3, which is way far from where I live. I called them to try to find out about lines etc & they weren’t very helpful.
Meanwhile the Pit opened with those huge lines and I know on my walker I couldn’t handle that.

Then 1/30 I was at “my” Walmart at Montgomery and Juan Tabo, and saw a sign at the pharmacy there that the only immunizations they were giving were COVID. I asked the Pharmacist how things worked because I really didn’t want to go way out to Zuni. She got into the DOH site and rescheduled my apt for that store, at 2/2.
So except for having to go get the Medicare card, it went very smoothly, a chair to wait on with just 2 ahead on me, a chair for the 15 min wait after. It was the Moderna vaccine.

I don’t know any ways to get a quicker response out of DOH, it my suggestion is when you or your sister do get offered an apt, if you don’t feel you or she can handle it mobility wise, go to your favorite Walmart and see if the Pharmacist can change you to their store or some other workable location. I have to say, I really like MY WM,always kind and helpful! And got handout of info about the vaccine etc.
Good luck! Also, the DOH then sent me an acknowledgment with the next apt.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your kind reply. We have both received the "be patient" reply, but that's it so far. I know my sister couldn't handle The Pit, and not sure I could either, for that matter. It's good to know that you found a simple way to change locations. I know the DOH has their hands full, but it is really hard for many senior people to get to far away locations, or manage to get into the place and wait when they get there so it's good to know that the appointments can be changed.

Thanks again. I don't know when we'll come up to the top of the pile; I'm older than she is, but she has more pre-existing conditions than I do.
 
Geezerette said:
Gary, I hope he didn’t really do that. If it’s lost, he can go to Medicare web page and report it lost and get replaced. I saw on another forum that within 2 weeks they will send back a notice that the person is covered and 4 weeks a new card. I hadn’t expected having to use it, but tend to keep stuff like that anyway.
Click to expand...
I think I saved it, but his last Dr.s visit they said they don't need it now that he has switched. Hate the switch, he had better coverage before.
 
Butterfly said:
Geezerette, did you get your appointment through the Health Dept? Or did you just call and make an appointment yourself? My sister and I are trying to navigate the same system, and any help would be very much appreciated. I registered both of us thru the Dept of Health and haven't heard anything else yet except to be patient. I'm especially concerned because my sister uses a walker and even with it she can't walk very far or stand for very long so she wouldn't be able to make it at some big vaccination site where she'd have to walk very far or wait a long time. Thanks for the tip about digging out our actual Medicare cards.
Click to expand...
We were vaccinated at a large indoor site used for garden shows etc. They had chairs set up next to the lines going in and encouraged anyone needing to sit to walk from chair to chair as the line progressed. There was no line jumping allowed and most seniors just waited for slower seniors to progress with no problem.

Once we got checked in, and in the big room, chairs were set up in rows with the time of your appointment noted on the end of the rows. Chairs followed social distance guidelines. You took your seats. Then workers came down the line, checked your driver’s license to make sure you were you, and directed you to another room for the collection of information.

In this room, you showed your paperwork which was the vaccination card they gave you, your drivers license, and in my case the additional paperwork since my appointment did not show up. They got your Medicare card, but would not take our, primary insurance card.

This will be worked out later, I am sure. They bill insurance but there is NO cost to you, NO co pay is requested or collected then or later. Once the paperwork is done, you go to another room to get the shot. after the shot you wait 15 or 30 minutes.

You can either set up your next shot on line, there is a code written on a board, or wait on line and make your appointment with someone in person. Since I had to wait 30 minutes, we waited 15 minutes and it took 15 minutes to get through the line to make the next appointment.

It was all very efficient. Anyway, this was how it was done here.
 

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