Our Best Shot at Good Health

Preventing illness is an important part of medical care. The Affordable Care Act helps make vaccines – one of the best tools to keep people healthy –more affordable for people of all ages and stages of life.

Under the Affordable Care Act, individuals who enroll in new group or individual private health plans after September 23, 2010, won’t have to pay any cost-sharing for certain recommended preventive services, including many vaccines.  No cost-sharing means no deductibles, no co-pays, and no co-insurance.

Being prepared for what lies ahead – be it next flu season or other infectious diseases – is a continuous effort. It helps to have strategies in place to guide these efforts so that our health care system can be proactive, rather than reactive, when it comes to our Nation’s health.

Recently, HHS launched the National Vaccine Plan, which helps guide the Nation’s strategy for developing new vaccines to combat disease and help more health providers offer vaccines without additional costs to patients. This plan includes:

• Studying and applying approaches to reducing financial barriers to vaccines for consumers.
• Strengthening the ability of state health departments to buy vaccines at affordable prices for state immunization programs.
• Devising strategies to help doctors and other health care providers offer more vaccines.

The Affordable Care Act and the National Vaccine Plan ensure that all Americans can access the important preventive benefits of vaccine to keep families healthy. Read this fact sheet about vaccines and the Affordable Care Act to learn more.