Seema Verma at a podium

Not only will the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services make sure that a COVID-19 vaccine be made available to older adults at no cost once a vaccine is approved; the agency also is working to guarantee a free vaccine for Medicaid and private insurance members as well, CMS Administrator Seema Verma said during this week’s HLTH 2020 virtual conference.

“We want to be very clear to insurers,” she said. “We want to make sure that every American can have access to these vaccines. The government’s going to pay for the costs of the vaccines, so we want to make sure insurance companies and all the programs across the country ensure that people have timely access and that cost is not a barrier.”