Insurance coverage of hepatitis B vaccine won't change, industry and officials say

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN Health

PUBLISHED Dec 7, 2025, 7:00 AM ET


Parents will still be able to get the hepatitis B vaccine for their children at no cost even though the US Centers for Disease and Control Prevention’s vaccine advisers recommended a major change to the immunization practice.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, whose members were chosen by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., voted Friday to end universal hepatitis B vaccination recommendations for newborns.

The revised recommendation calls for mothers who test negative for the virus to consult with a doctor or other health care provider before having their babies vaccinated. This could create confusion and place additional hurdles in front of parents and result in fewer children being immunized. The advisers also voted in favor of recommending that babies who don’t receive a dose at birth should wait at least two months before being immunized.

Two major health insurance industry groups, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and AHIP, reiterated Thursday that they will continue to cover all vaccines recommended by the committee as of earlier this year, with no cost-sharing, through 2026.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/07/health/hepatitis-b-vaccine-insurance-coverage

[paleotn]

1. Insurance companies operate in the real world.

Not some psycho fantasy world like brain worm. They fully understand the benefit of vaccinations from a dollar and cents perspective. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than the cost of treating the disease.

[Sailingdiver]

2. For now

Wait until the cult convinces pedodon and his gang of cult morons to add an exclusion to the ACA that diseases caused by lack of proper vaccines can be excluded from coverage. Yes, I understand the vaccine is very cheap when compared to treatment for a HepB infection, but insurance companies couldn't care less so if they can get both dropped more CEO bonus.

[paleotn]

3. No, because disease doesn't happen in a vacuum.

There are knock on conditions, short term and long term, that you cannot say were specifically caused by a specific infection brought on due to lack of a specific vaccination. May have been caused. May have been exacerbated. Who they hell knows? Sure as shit didn't help that the patient wasn't vaccinated. That's a quagmire most insurers would rather stay out of. Just cover the damn vaccinations and you have far less risk. Way, way cheaper.

Secondly, what you're suggesting would take an act of Congress. Health insurance regulation, including what's covered and what isn't, is primarily a state matter. See McCarran-Ferguson Act - 1945. Federal regulation like ACA and ERISA are fallback positions, particularly for backward ass red states that fail to regulate properly. Some of the ACA provisions were already mandated in some states prior to passage.