Health insurance and preventive care sources of children at public immunization clinics.
BACKGROUND
Recent proposals to reform immunization financing aim to help more children receive vaccines at their sources of primary care. Under the current system, referrals of children from the private sector may strain public immunization clinics, but scant information exists on what proportions of public clinic patients actually have insurance or primary care sources.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the health insurance, usual sources of health care, and referral patterns of children at low-cost public immunization clinics.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study based on face-to-face, structured interviews.


METHODS
Public immunization clinics at three sites in Contra Costa County.


METHODS
Five hundred thirty-eight parents of children awaiting immunizations.


RESULTS
Thirty-four percent of families at these public immunization clinics had Medicaid alone, whereas 24% had private insurance. Of those with private insurance, almost one third had at least partial coverage for vaccines. Sixty-two percent of families had sources of preventive care other than the immunization clinic, and most would have preferred to receive their vaccines at these sources. Most in this group named cost as the main barrier to immunizations at primary care sources; but one third of this group, including almost all the families insured by health maintenance organizations, named the wait for appointments at their usual source of care as the main barrier to receiving vaccines there. Two thirds of Medicaid patients and at least one third of privately insured patients were either uninformed or mistaken about whether their insurance covered vaccines.


CONCLUSIONS
Financing reform may improve immunization delivery and reduce the load on public clinics. However, legislation to improve immunization financing will not achieve optimal results unless parent education is improved and organizational barriers are also removed.
Lieu
T A
TA
Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, University of California, San Francisco.
Smith
M D
MD
Newacheck
P W
PW
Langthorn
D
D
Venkatesh
P
P
Herradora
R
R
D002140:California; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003151:Community Health Centers / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003361:Cost Allocation; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005380:Financing, Government; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs / Q000191:economics*; D007348:Insurance, Health; D008484:Medicaid; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States