VACCINATIONS: Chronicle Says Kids Should Get Federal Freebies
An editorial in today's San Francisco Chronicle says "California children should not be deprived of vaccinations or health insurance because of a technicality." The editorial refers to a dispute that has broken out between the federal government and the Wilson administration over whether the government should provide free vaccines for children enrolled in the state's new Healthy Families program. The Chronicle says that the federal free vaccination program that requires "children be either uninsured or Medi-Cal patients" is "setting up an untenable Catch-22." "The Clinton administration is playing a game of semantics if it refuses to provide the vaccinations" because Gov. Wilson provides health insurance for poor children through a private program instead of Medi-Cal. The Clinton administration should "acknowledge that the children in the new state health insurance plan need and deserve free vaccinations" (3/10).
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