- Vaccination in California can be doubly positive.
- To increase vaccination of people in California, authorities announced a new economic incentive.
- Now they will offer ‘gift cards’ for supermarkets valued up to 50 dollars.
Vaccination in California can be doubly positive. The authorities announced the delivery of gift cards or ‘gift cards’ for supermarkets of up to 50 dollars for those who are immunized.
According to the AP news agency, the California government announced another round of incentives to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, and now offers supermarket gift cards of up to $ 50.
Vaccination in California also pays off
The California Department of Health Care Services said Friday that it would spend $ 350 million to vaccinate more people through the state Medicaid program, which is the joint federal and state health insurance program for disabled or low-income people, he explained. verbatim AP.
Vaccination in California must improve. According to the aforementioned information agency, approximately 76% of the state’s residents aged 12 years or older have received at least one dose of any of the COVID-19 vaccines, but only 45% of the population covered by the state Medicaid program has been vaccinated. And about 13.8 million people are enrolled in California’s Medicaid program.
Vaccination in California is essential due to increase in cases due to delta variant
The local newspaper Ktla 5 also reported that California announced another round of incentives for the coronavirus vaccine by offering up to $ 50 to more than 11 million inhabitants in the state who obtain their health insurance through Medicaid.
Citing the AP, the Ktla 5 media said that the money is part of a new plan of 350 million dollars to vaccinate a greater part of the state population enrolled in Medicaid, since the state is experiencing an increase in new cases attributed to the delta variant, a more contagious and dangerous version of the coronavirus.
Incentives to get vaccinated
According to the Ktla 5 report, many states have used tax money to entice people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. In this sense, he indicated that states such as Massachusetts, Michigan and Ohio offered up to 1 million dollars in a lottery-style drawing among people who had received the vaccine.
In California, Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration distributed $ 116.5 million in incentives earlier this year and is giving out $ 50 grocery store gift cards to people who got vaccinated between May 27 and July 18, in addition to grant them free tickets to Six Flags theme parks, Ktla 5 detailed.
The Relevance of Medicaid to Vaccination in California
“We are working very hard to improve vaccination rates, but we believe we can do better, and we must do better, to prevent further disparities in COVID-19 infection and death among people served by (Medicaid),” said the director. state Medicaid, Jacey Cooper said, according to the Ktla 5 review.
California’s Medicaid program is the largest in the country with more than 13.8 million people enrolled. But the incentives announced Friday will apply to about 11.7 million people who get their health insurance from private companies, which are then paid for by the state.
Cards to buy in supermarkets thanks to vaccination in California
California offers those companies $ 250 million in incentives if they increase vaccination rates among its members. The state has also set aside $ 100 million for incentive payments to individuals that cannot exceed $ 50 each. Coper mentioned that those payments will most likely be made in the form of gift cards to supermarkets.
Several groups of Medicaid recipients have low vaccination rates, including homebound, multiple chronic illnesses, people of color, and people ages 50-64 and ages 12-25, Cooper said, according to Ktla 5.
The purpose of incentives
Cooper noted that the goal of the incentives is to encourage private insurance companies that run most of the state Medicaid plans to get more of their enrollees vaccinated.
That could include having more primary care doctors offer the vaccine in their offices and partnering with community organizations and food banks. “We need to work harder to reach the beneficiaries and find out how we can make it more convenient,” Cooper said, according to the Ktla 5 report.