ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Health insurance companies would have to help the state purchase vaccines for privately insured children in New Mexico under legislation proposed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
New Mexico is among a handful of states that operate universal vaccine purchasing programs aimed at boosting immunization rates. But here, paying into the program is voluntary.
Lawmakers say that needs to change to ensure the state has enough funding to cover the vaccine needs of all New Mexico children.
Sen. Bill O’Neill, D-Albuquerque, said the bill would help the state maintain its momentum as it works to keep immunization rates from slipping. Over the past decade, the state has pulled itself from the bottom of the list and is now close to the national average.
“It’s something we’ve done very well, and it’s refreshing to be toward the top of a positive list,” O’Neill told The Associated Press. “And coincidentally with this whole measles narrative, it brings up the importance of having a solid vaccine system in place.”
Childhood vaccine has become an emotionally charged topic amid a measles outbreak that has sickened more than 100 people across the U.S. and in Mexico.
No cases connected to the latest outbreak have been identified in New Mexico, but the state Health Department has been warning parents about the risks of not vaccinating their children.
Under New Mexico’s universal program, the Health Department purchases vaccines for privately insured children at a cost ranging from $10 million to $12 million each year. Children who are uninsured, underinsured or on Medicaid are eligible for vaccines under a federal program at no cost to the state.
According to legislative analysts, the state’s purchase of vaccine has been funded at about 55 percent using general funds and revenues from only a few insurers who voluntarily agree to pay for the vaccines their clients receive.
The legislation would require insurance companies to reimburse the Health Department for vaccine purchased for privately insured children. Companies would be required to report the number of children they cover in order to calculate their share of the total costs.
Anna Pentler, director of the New Mexico Immunization Coalition, said the legislation would prevent any shortfall in funding and ensure those children not covered by the federal program have access to vaccine.
As budgets shrink, she said efforts to recoup the state’s costs are important.
“Really, it’s not asking anybody to pay something that they should not already be paying,” she said. “The insurance companies are receiving payments from their clients to cover them and that is supposed to include vaccines. If they don’t pay, they’re essentially putting it on the people of New Mexico to cover that.”
The bill, which has the support of the New Mexico Medical Society and the New Mexico Pediatric Society, has to make its way through a series of Senate committees before reaching the floor for a vote.
Some opposition was expected from insurance companies and pharmaceutical interests.
Health Department spokesman Kenny Vigil said childhood immunization has been a top priority for the agency and it would continue to provide vaccines to all children regardless of the legislative action.
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