President Ronald Reagan once said, “Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.”
This statement has perhaps never been truer than today, as President Obama and Congress struggle for solutions to streamline the more than $2.5 trillion America spends on healthcare each year.
In the 16 months since its passage, President Obama’s healthcare law has not addressed the root causes of our spending problem, but has employed a dangerous budgetary shell game that shifts the fiscal burden to middle class families, small businesses and state governments. This leaves the federal government facing the same daunting dilemma – where can we eliminate redundant and wasteful healthcare spending, while improving the quality of care available to Americans of all ages?
Part of the Obama Administration’s answer to this question may surprise – and horrify – many Coloradans. Although not currently garnering frontpage headlines, the Obama Administration is quietly poised to target an area of our healthcare system that should be sacrosanct – vaccines for children.
On Monday, July 25th, Coloradans can watch this process play out firsthand as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hosts a community meeting starting at 9:30 a.m. at Aurora’s Children’s Hospital Colorado to discuss whether to add FDA-approved Meningitis vaccines to infant immunization schedules.
The only question should be: “What’s the question?”
Until recently, Meningitis vaccines were available for every age group except children under 2, a particularly high-risk age group for this disease as it is the leading infectious cause of death in early childhood. Meningitis kills 10-15 percent of its victims – half of them under five – within the first 24 to 48 hours.
At CDC’s urging, vaccine manufacturers stepped up and produced several infant vaccines. But now the CDC is wavering about whether it will support this medical advancement. This would be the first time in our history that the CDC has chosen not to add an FDA-approved vaccine to the infant schedule.
The availability of Meningitis vaccines should be of urgent concern for Colorado families. Last year, the state faced a Meningitis outbreak that claimed five lives. Governor Hickenlooper and the State Legislature rightly recognized this issue as a public health priority when earlier this year, they issued strong statements in support of vaccinating all Coloradans – including infants – from this deadly disease.
Yet, instead of making a decision indisputably in the best interest of families, the CDC remains mysteriously uncommitted on the vaccine and its traveling road show focuses almost entirely on the vaccines’ cost.
That approach is myopic both in terms of the public health and overall cost to our healthcare system. Should the CDC turn its back on infant Meningitis immunization, it would be passing the healthcare buck to Colorado families and Centennial State government.
The CDC not recommending an FDA-approved vaccine would prevent the federal government from paying for shots through the Vaccine for Children Program, which covers more than half of all vaccinations given to America’s children. Not only would the most disadvantaged Coloradans be unable to afford a life and limb-saving prevention, it would also open the door for insurance companies to refuse to cover these Meningitis vaccines. This leaves Colorado families picking up the full tab, a reality often not within reach for many during these tough economic times.
For those fortunate enough to survive Meningitis, one in five suffers from long-term complications including amputations, facial disfigurement, mental and physical disabilities, paralysis and seizures. A lifetime of intense care is almost guaranteed, full of follow-up surgeries, frequent visits to the ER, doctors’ appointments, prescription drugs, physical rehabilitation, special education teachers, prosthetic limbs and much more.
The immense financial responsibility falls not just to the families of survivors, but on our entire healthcare system. A recent British study found that the lifelong care for a Meningitis survivor is in the millions.
If we want to drive down healthcare costs, the best way is to invest in our children’s health on the front end – in this case $300 per infant – so that government at all levels is not paying for a lifetime of tragic consequences and expensive care on the backend.
A CDC decision to deny parents access to this life-saving Meningitis vaccine for infants would be pennywise, pound foolish and morally egregious. If the Obama Administration is serious about reducing healthcare costs, it should focus on doing more than rearranging vaccination deck chairs at the expense of our most vulnerable citizens and Colorado families.
Kerri Toloczko is vice president of Policy at Institute for Liberty, a free-market public policy organization in Washington, DC.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
