Lack of MoneyBarrier to Immunization
1 President and Chief Executive Officer, Chairman, Texas Board of Health, Parkland Memorial Hospital, 5201 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, TX 75235
In Reply.
I reviewed the letter from Drs Zimmerman, Giebink, and Street concerning our article authored by Shulte et al (Pediatrics. 1991;87:204-207) which studied patterns of referral for immunization in Dallas County, Texas. We believe their comments are insightful and agree that financial barriers are a major reason that these children are referred. Their experience documents a financial gradient from the uninsured to the Medicaid to the fully insured population as concerns treatment or referral decisions from primary care physicians.




