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The Biden administration is paying pediatricians to advise parents to subject their children to one of the COVID-19 vaccines.
In December, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it “is now requiring states to cover COVID-19 vaccine counseling visits in which healthcare providers talk to families about the importance of kids’ vaccination.”
The policy applies to all children covered by Medicaid. “Medicaid provides health insurance coverage to over 40% of all children in the United States and are [sic] a significant source of coverage for Black and brown children,” notes CMS, indicating by its use of a capital letter which children it considers more important.
According to a recent Washington Post report, the program could have been broader, covering vaccine counseling for patients on Medicare, too, but Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Xavier Becerra opposed the Medicare portion of the plan, arguing that it wasn’t needed because senior citizens already had a fairly high vaccination rate and because it could lead to fraud. Becerra’s lack of enthusiasm for even bigger government “incensed” “some White House and HHS officials,” who spoke to the Post for an article obviously aimed at getting rid of him.
