Insurance information
What does it cost to get the HPV vaccine?
The vaccine is very affordable and in many cases, free.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires most private insurance plans to cover some recommended preventive services and vaccinations recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) without consumer cost-sharing.
Insurance plans must cover the HPV vaccine for the recommended age groups of males and females. Individuals who obtain insurance through the ACA Marketplace are also covered for the HPV vaccine, Pap tests and HPV DNA testing without cost-sharing.
For families on Medicaid, Vaccines for Children Program pays for vaccinations for all children through age 18. Women and men ages 19 and 20 with Medicaid are eligible for Medicaid coverage of all ACIP-recommended vaccines as an Early and Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment program service. For adults 21 and older who qualify for Medicaid through other pathways, vaccine coverage is an optional benefit and is decided on a state-by-state basis. As of 2015, at least 39 states, including Texas, have covered the vaccination for women.
Vaccines for Children Program is a federally financed program that pays for vaccines recommended by the ACIP for children ages 18 and who are either Medicaid-eligible, uninsured, American Indian or Alaska Native or underinsured. In February 2015, The ACIP recommended that Vaccines for Children cover Gardasil 9, an HPV vaccination, for both males and females ages 9 through 18.
Merck, the manufacturer of the HPV vaccine, also has a patient assistance program that offers the vaccine at no cost for adults ages 19 to 26 who do not have health insurance and cannot afford to pay for the vaccine.