Declining Rate of Vaccination of Children Covered by Private Health Insurance

The National Committee for Quality Assurance in its State of Health Care 2010 report notes that there is a decline in the vaccination rate of children covered by private health insurance by almost four per cent while vaccination of children enrolled in Medicaid programs actually increased.  NCQA report shows that multiple childern vaccinations prevent some 10.5 million diseases per birth cohort in the US and saves in direct and indirect health care costs.

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NCQA speculates that parents of children with private insurance delay or decline vaccination of their children in the unproven notion that vaccinations cause autism spectrum disease.  The report notes that this thinking is fostered especially through internet articles and celebrity endorsement. Parents in private health insurance plans who are generally well educated tend to overvalue this misinformation regarding the relationship between vaccination and autism and predicts that if the trend continues, in the long run, these children of the middle class may be less healthy than children in Medicaid health insurance plans.