RE: Could Medicaid up flu shots to poor kids?

[Guest guest]

Malarky! 

The reason that many pediatricians are reluctant to service Medicaid is not JUST

because the reimbursement for giving vaccinations is less than regular insurance

providers pay, it is because the paperwork to get reimbursed by medicaid is

difficult to complete to the satisfaction of the bureaucrats who will authorize

the payments.  So some requests need to be submitted several times before the

billing clerks get all the I's dotted and T's crossed.

Let's face it, the expanded vaccination schedule requires people to bring their

kids in at least twice as often as they would otherwise do, since every 6-8

weeks there is another " well-baby " visit to jab another 2-4 holes in these

babies.  So in essence, the vaccine schedule does indeed provide a revenue

stream for physicians by increasing the number of office visits that a lower

paid PA or nurse actually sees the child and administers the shots and then the

doctor breezes in to spend 5 minutes with Mom before moving on to the next cog

in the assembly line.