Requiring insurers to cover retail pharmacy vaccinations for adult Californians could save lives, study finds

Requiring health insurers to pay for adult vaccinations given at retail pharmacies could help prevent the spread of deadly communicable diseases such as influenza, pneumococcal infection and human papillomavirus, according to a  new study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.Many insurers do not cover pharmacy-administered vaccines; cover a limited selection of vaccines; or require people they insure to get vaccinated only at pharmacies within their insurance network, the study reports.Overall vaccination rates in state are lowThe overall vaccination rate among adult Californians is far below federal recommendations, according to the study. For example, the flu vaccination rate in California was 39 percent in 2015-16, 31 percentage points below the 70 percent goal set by Healthy People 2020, a federal health promotion program. The pneumococcal immunization rate for Californians 18 to 64 years of age who are at high risk for pneumonia (including smokers and people with asthma, chronic heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) was 34.1 percent in 2016 compared to the recommended goal of 60 percent.“California may be ahead of other states in pushing for health care expansion, but our immunization rates for communicable diseases is fairly dismal,” said Gerald Kominski, senior fellow at the center and one of the study ’s co-authors.Influenza and pneumonia-related illnesses contributed to an estimated 57,000 deaths in the country in 2015-16, making...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news