It's completely counterintuitive, but a new study shows kids without insurance have better access to vaccinations than kids with sub-par insurance. Apparently, uninsured children have a variety of ways to get the shots they need, but the underinsured only have a few channels, such as federally-funded or rural health clinics and private docs who get state-purchased vaccines. But many live too far away from public clinics and some under-funded state vaccine programs don't invest in newer vaccines like those to prevent meningitis.
Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study concluded that some 14 percent of U.S. children are underinsured. Meanwhile, vaccinations are more expensive than ever: the cost to vaccinate one child grew to $1,170 this year from $155 in 1995.
- read this report
- here's the article from USA Today