ER rabbies vaccine $3K--Go to Walgreens

[DeniseNJ]

Short version:  We found a bat in the house over the weekend and had to all go to ER to get rabbies shots.

We got our first round and all four of us have to go back to the ER 3 more times each.  After many many calls and transfers I find out that this "level" ER visit where you just need a shot is $3K!!!!  Per my insurance I'm on the hook for 15% of that.  Four ER visits time 4 people times 15%.  I wanted to throw up.  We killed the bat and never touched it and the town came to get it and have it tested but docs still said go to ER.  I want my bat back!

So I'm calling everywhere to get this cheaper--docs, urgent care, hospital again, can't they send it to the doc or anything not to go through ER, can't they order it, and everyplace is NO.  I did get to a travel vaccine place that charges $423 per shot so that would be out of network but is still cheaper than my co-insurance even at the sticker price.

Then I see something online about Walgreens.  OMG I called and they said we could get our shots there!  They will order them for our next dose.  They can't do my daughter bc she's under 18 and I don't know how much it will be exactly but wow it's got to be less than an ER visit.  Of the dozens of people and facilities I spoke with no one mentioned go to Walgreens.

So if you need a rabbies shot you can go to the vet if they'll take you or go to Walgreens.  I'll let you know how much it's going to cost tomorrow but wanted to get this down asap since apparently it's bat season in NJ.

ETA:  Walgreens was a bust.  They only do pre-exposure, not post exposure.  Cost less than $400.

[FIRE Artist]

Good you are taking care. This was on the news here this morning. Apparently he brushed the bat away with his hand, he wasn’t bitten. 

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/b-c-man-dies-of-rabies-after-contact-with-a-bat-on-vancouver-island

[Mrs. PoP]

Could be worse?

https://nicoleandmaggie.wordpress.com/2019/05/06/in-which-dh-does-not-have-rabies-but-we-spend-as-if-he-does/

[DeniseNJ]

Could be worse?

https://nicoleandmaggie.wordpress.com/2019/05/06/in-which-dh-does-not-have-rabies-but-we-spend-as-if-he-does/

Yes, Walgreens vs an ER visit.  How could the ER not mention this?  In total our bill would have been over 7K.  Which I would have paid not to get rabies but still.  My insruance does cover it bc we were exposed by having a bat in our house, but by cover they mean 85% of a 48K bill.

[bacchi]

How could the ER not mention this?

Hahahaha.

Costco may also offer the vaccine.

https://www.costco.com/pharmacy/drug-results-details-price?storeId=10301&drugId=1541&drugName=Rabies+Vaccine&encodedDrugName=Rabies%2520Vaccine

[rantk81]

From what I've read online, it's important to get the first rabbies shot as soon as possible after exposure.  If possible, I certainly would have tried to go to a walk-in-clinic like Walgreens or CVS MinuteClinic first if they have it.  Next, I would see if my primary doc could get me in the same day for a quick shot.  If not, I'd look to an urgent care center.  I probably would only consider the ER for a first dose, if none of the other options were available within 24 hours of exposure.

The $3K for a shot at the emergency room is approximately $50 for the shot and $2950 for the 24/7/365 availability of almost any possible health care you may need or want.

[SquashingDebt]

From what I've read online, it's important to get the first rabbies shot as soon as possible after exposure.  If possible, I certainly would have tried to go to a walk-in-clinic like Walgreens or CVS MinuteClinic first if they have it.  Next, I would see if my primary doc could get me in the same day for a quick shot.  If not, I'd look to an urgent care center.  I probably would only consider the ER for a first dose, if none of the other options were available within 24 hours of exposure.

The $3K for a shot at the emergency room is approximately $50 for the shot and $2950 for the 24/7/365 availability of almost any possible health care you may need or want.

The immunoglobulin they give you after exposure is calculated based on body weight and injected where the potential bite site is (and other locations on the body to spread out the volume - I got 7 shots that day).  I suspect this would be beyond the capabilities of Walgreens.  The following 3 "booster" shots make total sense to do somewhere like Walgreens, however.

I lucked out because when I had my bat encounter, it was my last month or so on grad student health insurance, with low copays, instead of my HDHP I was about to switch too.  The timing saved me probably $4500 or so.

[use2betrix]

I am confused..

Was the price at walgreens mentioned? Will walgreens be out of pocket or will there be a copay?

[DeniseNJ]

I am confused..

Was the price at walgreens mentioned? Will walgreens be out of pocket or will there be a copay?

I couldn't get the Walgreens price--getting different answers from script insurance and regualr insurance.  But it has got to be less than 3 grand! 

Basically, four of us went to the ER at 3K apiece, so 12K times the 15% as our copay, that's $1,800 we owe so far.

So do we four go back to the ER 3 more times and owe another 15% of 36,000, that's another $5,400?  I feel faint.

Or do we go out of network to a travel vaccine place where they vaccinate for out of the country travel?  They charge $423 for each of 3 more vaccines for 4 people.  That's only $5,076 and we would owe 35% (bc it's out of network) so we'd owe another $1776 (assuming they cover it bc what if by some technicallity they don't cover it?)  But even the sticker price is less than our ER co-pay so we should go there instead.

Enter Walgreens.  They ordered the vaccine for us 3--they only do 18 and older but daughter is only 16 so she has to go to travel vaccine place.  I don't know how much it will be, but can it be 3K? The prescription insurance says it's a zero copay bc it's a vaccine.  The medical insruance says she's not sure they cover it.  Another rep said it depends how they submit it.  I'll find out tomorrow when we go for our second shot--if we don't turn into vampires by then.

[caseyzee]

Walgreen's.  Meh.

Everybody has a story about everything, I know.

My Walgreen's story.  My kid had C-Diff.  Needed an antibiotic.  I normally go to Costco but for whatever reason, the doctor called it into Walgreen's.  I have a health fund, which means my healthcare is seeded with funds from my employer, and after that seed has been spent, I get to pay the next 5k or so, before we nicely agree to split it 85/15.  Mostly shame on me, but I didn't notice until we got home that Walgreens had charged my health fund $1899 for this antibiotic.  I called, I emailed, I compared to Costco ($150), they wouldn't budge on refunding me or my healthfund.  Yada, yada, yada, I'll never go to Walgreen's again.  And when my kid needed a 2nd round of the antibiotics, you can bet we went to Costco.

[GuitarStv]

These types of stories are so alien to me.  It's really a whole different world south of the border. . .

[hops]

The immunoglobulin they give you after exposure is calculated based on body weight and injected where the potential bite site is (and other locations on the body to spread out the volume - I got 7 shots that day).  I suspect this would be beyond the capabilities of Walgreens.  The following 3 "booster" shots make total sense to do somewhere like Walgreens, however.

I lucked out because when I had my bat encounter, it was my last month or so on grad student health insurance, with low copays, instead of my HDHP I was about to switch too.  The timing saved me probably $4500 or so.

Yep, it's not the vaccine series that's super-expensive, it's the rabies immune globulin, which is critical to the treatment, that costs thousands of dollars. Here, an urgent care center would direct you to the ER for that (unless maybe it happened during regular business hours and you lived somewhere with a state service that could help). It's not something everyone just keeps on hand and the consequences can be dire if it's not injected in the right places.

[SquashingDebt]

The immunoglobulin they give you after exposure is calculated based on body weight and injected where the potential bite site is (and other locations on the body to spread out the volume - I got 7 shots that day).  I suspect this would be beyond the capabilities of Walgreens.  The following 3 "booster" shots make total sense to do somewhere like Walgreens, however.

I lucked out because when I had my bat encounter, it was my last month or so on grad student health insurance, with low copays, instead of my HDHP I was about to switch too.  The timing saved me probably $4500 or so.

Yep, it's not the vaccine series that's super-expensive, it's the rabies immune globulin, which is critical to the treatment, that costs thousands of dollars. Here, an urgent care center would direct you to the ER for that (unless maybe it happened during regular business hours and you lived somewhere with a state service that could help). It's not something everyone just keeps on hand and the consequences can be dire if it's not injected in the right places.

Yes, I started at an urgent care center and they had me go to the ER because they couldn't handle it there.  Then the ER nurse had to get a doctor because she was too nervous to inject the side of my foot where the suspected bite was.  That hurt a lot.. but I didn't get rabies and die!

[DeniseNJ]

Walgreens was a bust.  Not only did the vaccines not come in today as promised but they said in NJ--worse state ever--they can only give the shots at Walgreens for pre-exposure.  I tried to tell them we were going on safari but they didn't buy it.  It was over $300, almost $400 I think and they said insurance wouldn't cover it.  I was too panicked to keep calling different Walgreens with my lies so I managed to get appts with Pssport Health USA.  They are $423 there and maybe my insurance will cover some.

The good news is I totally have the money to cover it.  A year ago we'd have been screwed without even room on a cc to cover this amount.  We would have had to go to ER and beg the billing dept for a break and try to pay over time.  But today I can take care of my family and not worry about a few grand.

Thanks to all of you for your help and advice over the past year--it's made a big diffference to my family.

[rantk81]

Another option, if it's not too late:  Try calling your insurance company and ask them where the most economical place would be to get the shots.
For all the shortcomings of my insurance company (Aetna), they're usually pretty good with respect to this.... 

[sweet reason]

Short version:  We found a bat in the house over the weekend and had to all go to ER to get rabbies shots.

We got our first round and all four of us have to go back to the ER 3 more times each.  After many many calls and transfers I find out that this "level" ER visit where you just need a shot is $3K!!!!  Per my insurance I'm on the hook for 15% of that.  Four ER visits time 4 people times 15%.  I wanted to throw up.  We killed the bat and never touched it and the town came to get it and have it tested but docs still said go to ER.  I want my bat back!

So I'm calling everywhere to get this cheaper--docs, urgent care, hospital again, can't they send it to the doc or anything not to go through ER, can't they order it, and everyplace is NO.  I did get to a travel vaccine place that charges $423 per shot so that would be out of network but is still cheaper than my co-insurance even at the sticker price.

** this is not medical advice*

I am in the veterinary field and very familiar with rabies and transmission etc.... IMO this is not a true rabies exposure. Yes a bat can transmit rabies and yes they have very small teeth that can leave no visible signs of a bite. The issue I have with this story above is the husband killed the bat, thus enabling the chance to send the bat to your state diagnostic lab for rabies testing. Assuming no other contact with the bat was made and no one was clearly bitten, prophylactic vaccine should not be given until confirmed rabies in the bat. When you go to the hospital and tell them you had exposure to a bat, stray cat or dog scratch/bite etc.... they are responsible to cover their ass and initiate rabies prophylactics. The cross over to human med and vet med is limited in this regard to rabies and information such as sending off to diagnostic labs for confirmed rabies diagnosis is often missed or not even known to Dr's as an option. In the future if anyone has something like this happen contact your state debt of AG and locate and send the dead animal to them. If the animal tests post for rabies then get the prophylactic shots. Barring a bite to the face, a bite to extremities you have plenty of time to still get the shots if the test comes back positive. These shot are very expensive as poster above has experienced and also no joke.........again this in not advice contact your local dept of Ag for more info on rabies testing if interested


Then I see something online about Walgreens.  OMG I called and they said we could get our shots there!  They will order them for our next dose.  They can't do my daughter bc she's under 18 and I don't know how much it will be exactly but wow it's got to be less than an ER visit.  Of the dozens of people and facilities I spoke with no one mentioned go to Walgreens.

So if you need a rabbies shot you can go to the vet if they'll take you or go to Walgreens.  I'll let you know how much it's going to cost tomorrow but wanted to get this down asap since apparently it's bat season in NJ.

[CrustyBadger]

Short version:  We found a bat in the house over the weekend and had to all go to ER to get rabbies shots.

Denise, I hope you get all your shots OK.

Did you actually have any contact with the bat?  Did it bite or scratch your whole family?   Why did you all need to get the rabies shots?

[cru.jones]

I had a similar run in with a bat and when I called my county’s health department they set me up with a clinic to get the shots and also covered all the costs. This was in Western New York, but it’s worth a call to your local department of health to see if there is a program to cover the cost of the shots.

[TheContinentalOp]

I was bitten by a bat in 2007. I went to the local urgent care. They didn't stock the vaccine and claimed the only place to get it was at the ER at a large regional hospital. And the series of shots ended up being about U$3,000. If it happens again I will check Walgreens.

[MonkeyJenga]

Short version:  We found a bat in the house over the weekend and had to all go to ER to get rabbies shots.

Denise, I hope you get all your shots OK.

Did you actually have any contact with the bat?  Did it bite or scratch your whole family?   Why did you all need to get the rabies shots?

It seems shots are recommended even without clear exposure for three reasons:

1) bats have small teeth and bites can go unnoticed
2) rabies transmission can happen from contact with their skin, through saliva deposited from licking themselves - https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/transmission/index.html
3) better safe than sorry - even if transmittal risk is low, if you did happen to get rabies, you're dead, and the doctor that said you didn't need it is getting sued

Maybe the town couldn't do the testing on the bat in time? Especially if you're not sure how long the bat had been in the house. Speed is critical in getting the first set of shots if you were exposed. Probably also why the ER is recommended.

Not a doctor, this is all based on research and stories from other people who had to receive rabies vaccines.

Good luck getting all the shots DeniseNJ! Glad yall are in a better place financially to handle this.

[DeniseNJ]

None of us were bitten or even touched the bat but it was in our house overnight from Saturday to Sunday and they came to get it on Monday and the test wouldn't be ready until today--and of course it was negative for rabbies.  I want my bat back!  I'll have it stuffed and mounted and sell it on ebay.

I think we could have waited but the docs said to go to the ER.  We called the town to pick it up and they said call our doc.  Someone else said to call the homeowners insurance.  I'll try.

[MonkeyJenga]

None of us were bitten or even touched the bat but it was in our house overnight from Saturday to Sunday and they came to get it on Monday and the test wouldn't be ready until today--and of course it was negative for rabbies.  I want my bat back!  I'll have it stuffed and mounted and sell it on ebay.

I think we could have waited but the docs said to go to the ER.  We called the town to pick it up and they said call our doc.  Someone else said to call the homeowners insurance.  I'll try.

Very glad the tests came back negative! This is no longer relevant to your situation, but regarding the bolded section: if the bat is in your house overnight, you won't know for sure that there was no contact while you were sleeping. It can brush up against you, or even bite you without you noticing the marks. If there had been contact, and if the bat had rabies, waiting 6 days (Saturday night exposure to Friday test results) for the initial shots could be too late. According to the CDC, you're supposed to already be on the second dose by day 7, and the first should be given as soon as possible.

Again, not a doctor, but I've been reading about rabies recently, and thought I should put this out there for anyone else who might have a similar situation.

[sweet reason]

None of us were bitten or even touched the bat but it was in our house overnight from Saturday to Sunday and they came to get it on Monday and the test wouldn't be ready until today--and of course it was negative for rabbies.  I want my bat back!  I'll have it stuffed and mounted and sell it on ebay.

I think we could have waited but the docs said to go to the ER.  We called the town to pick it up and they said call our doc.  Someone else said to call the homeowners insurance.  I'll try.

I hope they told you now you don't need the rest of the shots? This is so insane to me that they would initiate the shots with your whole family given they could have just waited for the test to come back. Rabies takes a long time to get to your brain, it works its way up from the site of the bite via sensory nerve fibers  SLOWLY (1 mm per day) up to your brain. Even if some how one of your kids was bit in the face by the bat( worst place to be bitten because its the closest body part to your brain) and it was rabies, you could safely wait a day or two for the test to come back( not saying they should in this example but you could ). The fact that human Dr's aren't aware of this and give these shots when they can wait for test results to confirm rabies, is really unfortunate. These vaccines aren't a joke either, while they do save your life in the event of an actual rabid bite ( very rare in the usa), they do come with risks. Anyway I am glad you guys got good news and a negative report back. If the DRs push finishing your rabies vaccine series PLEASE contact the CDC and tell them your story/ask about finishing the series. Not only will they tell you absolutely not, but you also will save you and your family potential complications from the shot and a hell of a lot of $$. Take care

[DeniseNJ]

None of us were bitten or even touched the bat but it was in our house overnight from Saturday to Sunday and they came to get it on Monday and the test wouldn't be ready until today--and of course it was negative for rabbies.  I want my bat back!  I'll have it stuffed and mounted and sell it on ebay.

I think we could have waited but the docs said to go to the ER.  We called the town to pick it up and they said call our doc.  Someone else said to call the homeowners insurance.  I'll try.

I hope they told you now you don't need the rest of the shots? This is so insane to me that they would initiate the shots with your whole family given they could have just waited for the test to come back. Rabies takes a long time to get to your brain, it works its way up from the site of the bite via sensory nerve fibers  SLOWLY (1 mm per day) up to your brain. Even if some how one of your kids was bit in the face by the bat( worst place to be bitten because its the closest body part to your brain) and it was rabies, you could safely wait a day or two for the test to come back( not saying they should in this example but you could ). The fact that human Dr's aren't aware of this and give these shots when they can wait for test results to confirm rabies, is really unfortunate. These vaccines aren't a joke either, while they do save your life in the event of an actual rabid bite ( very rare in the usa), they do come with risks. Anyway I am glad you guys got good news and a negative report back. If the DRs push finishing your rabies vaccine series PLEASE contact the CDC and tell them your story/ask about finishing the series. Not only will they tell you absolutely not, but you also will save you and your family potential complications from the shot and a hell of a lot of $$. Take care

Actually the doc was very clear that you must finish the series once you start.  Something about developing a resistance but not the immunity so next time you're exposed it might not work and you risk getting rabies.  But I looked up the CDC and it says you can discontinue if your bat comes back negative.  I don't want to pony up the funds but now I'm  conflicted.