News you won't see in controlled mainstream media.

This is an important message from Dawn Richardson, PROVE www.vaccineinfo.net


Dear PROVE Members -

Everyone loses on the recent proposal below published in today's New York Times to mandate insurance companies and the government to pay for vaccines except the vaccine manufacturers whose pocketbooks get fatter at every turn - yet they pay nothing when their product fails and hurts someone. Requiring insurance companies to pay for vaccines raises everyone's insurance premium whether you take the vaccine or not. Vaccines mandates are "first dollar coverage" which basically means you take the price of the vaccine and your premium is raised by that amount whether you get the shot or not. If mandated to cover a vaccine, an insurance company will raise everyone's premiums to reflect that. Under the plan below, the government would subsizize that cost somewhat, but guess where that money comes from - yes - your tax dollars. This proposal will produce many more uninsured people who will no longer be able to afford their premiums because of raised premiums and higher taxes wh!
ich will then cause them to lose access to healthcare for critical basic services where they will have nowhere to go but emergency facilities which - guess what - get paid by your taxes again.

We don't have raging epidemics of vaccine preventable diseases under the current system of financing vaccines for those who want them necessitating such a radical costly step - on the contrary we have raging epidemics of autism, diabetes, asthma, and cancer with no relief in sight.

Please let your elected representatives and senators in Washington know that you are not interested in having your family's income and insurance premiums negatively impacted to make pharmaceutical companies rich with vaccine insurance coverage mandates and government subsidizations from your tax dollars. This is one dangerous step closer to socialized clumsy one-size-fits-all medicine which threatens your family's freedom of choice in health care.

House contact information can be obtained by linking to
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Then select your state and fill out your zip code and you will be linked to a page to send your Representative an email note.

Senate contact information can be obtained by linking to
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Then select your state and click on your senators' web forms to send them an email note.

Email the PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
president@whitehouse.gov


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Report Says U.S. Should Subsidize Vaccinations
By ROBERT PEAR
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/05/politics/05VACC.html?hp

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 - The federal government should require all health insurance policies to pay for vaccines, should reimburse insurers for the costs and should subsidize vaccines for uninsured people, an expert panel from the the National Academy of Sciences said today.

The proposals, for a sweeping overhaul of vaccine policy, respond to recent shortages in the supply of certain vaccines and a steady decline in the number of companies producing vaccines.

A major purpose of the recommendations is to guarantee that everyone has access to the growing number of new, expensive but useful vaccine products.

"Immunization is too important to the nation for anyone to be left uncovered," said Frank A. Sloan, a health economist at Duke University, who was chairman of the 11-member panel.

At the same time, the panel said it wanted to stimulate and sustain investment in new vaccines, by assuring that manufacturers could achieve an adequate return on their investments.

The proposal for a "vaccine insurance mandate" would require action by Congress. Lawmakers have expressed concern about episodic shortages of some vaccines. The problem has not been high on the Congressional agenda, but today's report may prompt action on Capitol Hill.

The recommendations are meant to ensure access to vaccines that might be developed in the future. Researchers have been working on vaccines to combat viral hepatitis, certain types of cancer, including cervical cancer, and sexually transmitted diseases including infection with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.

The federal government buys about 55 percent of the nation's childhood vaccines and therefore has significant power over vaccine prices. The panel said it wanted to reduce "the role of government in directly purchasing and distributing vaccine products."

Rather than buying vaccine, it said, the government should provide "a fixed subsidy" that is adequate to pay for each vaccine and the cost of administering it.

In its report, commissioned by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the panel said that Congress should require all public and private health plans to cover immunizations.

The mandate would provide coverage for all insured children, for adults age 65 and older, and for certain people 18 to 64 who have a high risk of developing diseases that can be prevented by vaccines.

The subsidies would reflect "the societal benefits" of each vaccine, including its ability to prolong life, to improve the quality of life, to avert future medical costs and to increase the productivity of workers by keeping them healthy.

The subsidies would also reflect the fact that "immunization protects not just the individual, but also others in society, from contagious diseases," the report said.

Dr. Walter Orenstein, director of the national immunization program at the Centers for Disease Control, welcomed the report, saying it provided many useful suggestions and recommendations.

The panel said that just 75 percent of the nation's toddlers were vaccinated on schedule, and that the immunization rate for adults was much lower. More than 25 companies produced the recommended vaccines for the United States market 30 years ago, but only 5 remain, it said.

Federal officials negotiate significant discounts on the large amount of vaccine they buy. But the panel said it would be a serious mistake for the government to purchase all vaccine.

"Arbitrary government pricing would be devastating to vaccine research and development," the report said.

Professor Sloan said that a vaccine subsidy had two major advantages over prices negotiated by the government. First, he said, it would probably increase prices for future vaccines, creating strong incentives for companies to discover and develop new products. "Second," he said, "it would induce companies to focus their attention on vaccines that would benefit society the most."

The recommendations would increase federal spending, but the panel did not estimate the cost to the federal Treasury.

The federal government now spends $1 billion a year on the Vaccines for Children program and $300 million to buy vaccines for state governments. The proposals would shift the entire cost of vaccine payments for children and high-risk adults, estimated at $2 billion to $3 billion a year, to the federal government, while reducing the amount spent by private health plans.


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Dawn Richardson
PROVE(Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education)
prove@vaccineinfo.net (email)
http://vaccineinfo.net/ (web site)
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PROVE provides information on vaccines, and immunization policies and practices that affect the children and adults of Texas. Our mission is to prevent vaccine injury and death and to promote and protect the right of every person to make informed independent vaccination decisions for themselves and their family.
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This information is not to be construed as medical OR legal advice.
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