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Reasons and Remedies for Underinsurance for Child and Adolescent Vaccines
Matthew M. Davis, MD, MAPP
JAMA. 2007;298:680-682.
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For childhood and adolescent vaccinations, having private insurance may be worse than having no insurance at all. If that seems odd, given the usual advantages of insurance in the US health care system, consider the federal Vaccines for Children (VFC) program. The VFC program pays for all vaccinations recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for children who are uninsured, Medicaid-eligible, or of American Indian/Alaska Native origin. The architects of VFC wanted to ensure an equitable floor of financing in all states for children who have historically been most vulnerable to the problem of undervaccination.1
Privately insured children by comparison are expected to have coverage for ACIP-recommended vaccines through their health insurance plans. The present dilemma is that, although the majority of health insurance plans eventually cover ACIP-recommended vaccines for children and adolescents, an increasing . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Author Affiliations: Child Health Evaluation and Research (CHEAR) Unit, Divisions of General Pediatrics and General Internal Medicine, and Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and Center for Studying Health System Change, Washington, DC.
RELATED ARTICLE
Gaps in Vaccine Financing for Underinsured Children in the United States
Grace M. Lee, Jeanne M. Santoli, Claire Hannan, Mark L. Messonnier, James E. Sabin, Donna Rusinak, Charlene Gay, Susan M. Lett, and Tracy A. Lieu
JAMA. 2007;298(6):638-643.
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