BY KATHERINE PETERS
As a family physician at Amoskeag Health, a federally qualified health center (FQHC) that serves over 16,000 patients in Manchester and neighboring towns, I am writing to educate the public about HB 524, a bill that, if passed, will eliminate the NH Vaccine Association (NHVA) and jeopardize our public health infrastructure like never before.
Katherine Peters
NHVA has funded our state’s vaccine purchasing program for 23 years.
It allows the state to purchase vaccines at a significant discount, so that the state can then offer these vaccines free to health care providers.
It saves NH citizens and healthcare centers money.
The program is the result of a years-long collaboration among NHVA, the state, health insurers, and health care providers — NHVA raises funds from health plans, insurers and other payers, and then NHVA remits these funds to the state. This makes it possible for the state’s immunization program to purchase vaccines for commercially insured children under 19 years old at a discounted rate, making the vaccines free to providers and patients.
NHVA is an integral part of NH’s success as consistently having one of the highest vaccine rates in the country — something we all should be proud of.
New Hampshire has been lauded as having one of the most efficient, cost-effective systems in the country for purchasing and distributing childhood vaccines, and NHVA is a critical component in that system. More providers have been able to offer vaccination services because they are no longer required to finance the upfront costs of vaccines or be burdened with complex ordering systems.
It makes providers’ lives easier, and it makes patients’ lives easier.
Across the state, there are currently 95 payers remitting assessments to NHVA, and 212 provider sites providing free immunizations to children because of the existence of this program. If NHVA goes away, it will be harder for families to get vaccinated because they’ll have to worry about more copays and more appointments.
Health care providers will have to create new, more cumbersome systems for ordering and paying for vaccines. And all of us will be at higher risk of contracting vaccine-preventable diseases.
At a time of unprecedented financial fragility for our health centers, the ramifications of NHVA’s dissolution are particularly painful to think about. Health care organizations cannot afford to purchase vaccines without knowing whether the cost will be reimbursed.
NHVA underpins the services thousands of Granite Staters rely on. It’s part of a model that has helped our state achieve recognition and success in improving children’s lives.
If NHVA goes away, and health care organizations don’t have a cash reserve and can’t find funding elsewhere, it is inevitable people will lose access to lifesaving vaccines that had been readily available for decades. Legislation to eliminate NHVA puts our state’s economy, the health care system, and the lives of Granite Staters, particularly our children, at stake.
I’m a family doctor, and I’m also a mom. My own kids see their providers at an FQHC, and they are fully vaccinated. I don’t want to have to take them to separate appointments in separate locations to make sure I can get their essential health care done. And I don’t want that for my patients. It will mean more stress, more days of missed work for parents, and fewer kids getting vaccinated. This will disproportionately harm needy families.
Even if a family decides they do not want to vaccinate their own children, I hope they will respect the right of others to vaccinate and stand up for all NH citizens having safe and affordable access to vaccines. Did you know that the vast majority of physicians vaccinate our own children? It is safe, effective and important.
I also want to note that the NHVA doesn’t force anyone to vaccinate or in any way affect that personal freedom. Those who choose not to vaccinate should also be concerned about maintaining the NHVA because it improves the likelihood that herd immunity will continue to protect their families.
This bill asks us to dismantle an organization that saves money for our state and keeps people healthy, and it must be opposed.
I encourage you all to share your story about how the bill’s passage, and the ensuing lack of access to routine childhood vaccines, would impact you, your organization, and the people you serve. Let’s ensure the voices of the patients we serve are heard.
Katherine Peters, DO, is a family practitioner in obstetrical medicine at Amoskeag Health.
