| Press Room |
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| Immunization Action Coalition |
| Contact: Deborah L. Wexler, MD, Executive Director |
| (651) 647-9009 |
| Email: admin@immunize.org |
| Immunization Action Coalition |
| October 12, 2009 |
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| Letter to the Honorable Secretary Kathleen Sebelius |
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| IAC encourages the Secretary to expand
Medicare Part B benefits to cover all vaccines recommended for
adults 65 years and older by the CDC's Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices. |
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May 26,
2009
The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary of Health and Human Services
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, DC 20201 |
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Dear Madam Secretary: |
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| We at the Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) send our
congratulations on your confirmation as Secretary of Health and
Human Services. The position of Secretary carries great power to
enhance the public health, and we hope that you will call upon us
often when your duties invoke issues of immunization practice and
policy. |
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| I am writing today to encourage you to implement an administrative
change to Medicare benefits. Medicare Part B should be expanded to cover all vaccines recommended for adults 65 years and older by
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory
Committee on Immunization Practices. Currently, only influenza,
pneumococcal, and hepatitis B vaccines are covered under Part B;
the other vaccines recommended for this age group, such as those
that prevent herpes zoster (shingles) and tetanus, are only
covered under Medicare Part D. |
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| Under Medicare Part B, patients have no difficulty obtaining
recommended vaccinations, and it is a straightforward process for healthcare professionals to obtain reimbursement for vaccination
services just as they do for any other covered service. In
contrast, it can be a nightmare for patients to access vaccines
under Medicare Part D. |
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| The difficulty for patients begins with the complexity of
understanding their own Part D vaccine coverage. Patients are
often uncertain about which vaccines are covered and to what
extent they are covered; because there are hundreds of different
Part D plans, few providers are able to offer help in interpreting
plan language. This uncertainty introduces an element of financial
risk into the decision to accept vaccination. |
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| Even when a Part D plan does offer coverage, patients often must
pay for vaccines out of their own pockets and wait to be
reimbursed. The price of some vaccines – for instance, the average
wholesale price of zoster vaccine is about $180 – is unmanageable
for many Medicare recipients. In addition, patients within the
"doughnut hole" must bear this expense knowing they will not
receive reimbursement. |
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| Moreover, because Part D is a prescription benefit, some patients
must buy Part D-covered vaccines at pharmacies and then bring them back to their doctors’ offices to have them administered. CDC
strongly discourages this practice because many vaccines require
special handling. Zoster vaccine is properly transported on dry
ice, because if it is held above freezer temperature for more than
30 minutes, it loses its potency. We at IAC are unaware of any
retail pharmacy that provides dry ice for customer transport of
zoster vaccine. |
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| \In order to be effective, our nation’s immunization
recommendations need to be easy to follow for patients and
healthcare professionals alike. I urge you to exercise your power
to make all vaccines for seniors readily available under Medicare
Part B. Few older Americans have received the recommended doses of
tetanus and zoster vaccines, both of which can protect them from
dangerous and painful diseases. You can do a great service to the
growing population of Medicare recipients by placing all
CDC-recommended vaccines on an equal footing within the Medicare
program. |
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Best regards,
Deborah L. Wexler, M.D.
Executive Director
| cc: |
The
Honorable Edward M. Kennedy, United States Senate |
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The
Honorable Charles B. Rangel, United States House of
Representatives |
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Dora L. Hughes,
M.D., M.P.H., Counselor for Public Health and Science, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services |
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Jonathan D.
Blum, Director, Center for Medicare Management, Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services |
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