Medicaid members have an extra month, until Sept. 15, to qualify for reward
A campaign by Ohio’s Medicaid Managed Care plans to get more Ohioans vaccinated against COVID-19 is kicking into a higher gear and extending its deadline by a month. As of July 26, any Medicaid member who gets the first vaccination shot by Sept. 15 will qualify for a gift card worth $100.
Working together, the plans — Aetna, Buckeye Health Plan, CareSource, Molina Healthcare, Paramount Advantage and UnitedHealthcare — have made finding and getting the vaccine easier than ever with Vax on the Spot, a website with information on community vaccine events and walk-in opportunities at pharmacies. The site also gives details on how members can get the $100 incentive.
The campaign, which launched in June with a goal of administering 550,000 additional Medicaid member vaccinations, initially offered $50 gift cards and had an Aug. 15 deadline.
The effort has taken on new urgency as Ohio continues to lag most other states in vaccination rates and as the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus, believed to be significantly more contagious than other variants, spreads.
Currently available vaccines have proven highly effective at preventing people from contracting COVID-19 and even more effective at preventing serious illness and hospitalization, even among cases involving the Delta variant. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), almost everyone — 97% — who contracts a COVID-19 case serious enough to require hospitalization is unvaccinated.
As of today, the CDC ranked Ohio 30th among the 50 states in the number of first vaccination doses per 100,000 people.*
The fear is that, given a large enough unvaccinated population in which to spread, existing viruses will mutate into a variant that is resistant to the vaccines. “We need to get ahead of these variants before there is one that the vaccines do not protect us against,” said Kelly O’Reilly, president and chief executive officer of the Ohio Association of Health Plans.
In addition to the incentive for Medicaid members, during the period of the campaign health care providers who administer vaccines will receive increased payment. Reimbursement of $100 instead of $38 per shot enables a physician or pharmacist to devote office space and take the time to monitor for reactions after walk-in vaccinations.
For more on Ohio’s Medicaid Managed Care Organizations, visit https://medicaid.oahp.org/
Media Contact: Mary Edwards: Mobile: 614-315-3386, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
* Revised: An earlier version of this statement included outdated information.
