Opinion Editorial: If the pandemic should have taught us one thing, it is that older Americans need affordable access to vaccines. Unfortunately, Medicare has a system that doesn’t make that as easy as it should. Ironically, younger, employed adults typically pay nothing for vaccines, while those with Medicare, who are at greater risk of infectious disease, can pay more than $100 for certain vaccines.
This disparity is particularly problematic for rural communities. People living in rural areas are more likely to die from COVID-19, more likely to suffer from chronic health conditions and more likely to be food insecure, among other health challenges, according to a study by McKinsey.
Compounding these challenges is the fact that if you fall ill in a rural community, you are less likely to have access to high-quality care, particularly intensive care, and that rural communities skew older than urban communities, putting additional pressure on local health care resources. These facts make it even more important that we take commonsense actions to help people living in rural communities prevent disease and keep them out of hospitals. One of the best and most cost-effective ways to do this is to ensure they are vaccinated against common infectious diseases.
