>>>Actually this is available to a lot of military associated people not covered by TRICARE ie veterans and reserve military including National Guard and inactive reservist not eligible for TRICARE. I worked as a contractor on many military bases and if the flu shots are any indication then basically anyone who can get on the installation can and is encouraged to get a free shot- even the burger flippers employed by the Burger King.
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>While the US has a definite equity/access issue in other areas, in vaccination the US can hold its head high- possibly the best vaccination rates in the world depending who you ask. Your example is an illustration of why: health authorities and states get together in the interests of public health, a time-honored behavior since the days when the US led its allies to eradicate polio, malaria, leprosy and plague from the entire planet... until the penny-pinchers and anti-vaxxers got involved.
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>Despite this US vaccination track record, politicians go on fake news predicting only the rich will get access to vaccines and fake news hoovers it down uncritically. I wonder whether any of these people ever consider how demoralizing this posturing must be to the front-line personnel getting on with it for the good of their communities?
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>FWIW, I just did some digging around: I'm seeing multiple requests for additional Medicaid funding especially for expansion of vaccination for adults, but Congress appears to have allocated $0 for this purpose in the 2018-2020 budget. Yes, $0. If you guys still had a news media, the Congressmen and who did this would be having to explain themselves/remedy rather than launching political attacks.

I thought that Medicaid money was controlled by each state in accordance with federal guidelines. I know that how Medicaid money is spent varies from state to state.

Anyway, that's just one of the problems. Any bill that contains "omnibus", "comprehensive" or "emergency" should read "PORK BARREL" .
Also, the "news" never mentions the number of "special interest" items that get stuck in the budget by the staffers who write up the final document.

From Wikipedia:
"Congress has completed appropriations before the start of the fiscal year only 4 times in the past 40 years. The last time Congress completed all bills on time was 20 years ago, in 1996."
Now it's 2020 so make that 44 years and 24 years.
I remember FY 1976T when they moved the start of the Fiscal Year from July 1 to October 1 "so congress has time to complete the budget on time". How is that working?