Healthcare Issues Concerning NJ Patients
MSNJ Annual Doctor's Day Press Conference, March 30, 2009
Vaccination Awareness
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Resources
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THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF NEW JERSEY PROMOTES TIMELY VACCINATIONS FOR CHILDREN ON NATIONAL DOCTORS DAY
Lawrenceville, NJ – Today, the Medical Society of New Jersey and other physician groups including the NJ Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, urged all New Jersey residents to have their children vaccinated on time and to understand vaccine safety.
“On a day where we recognize the outstanding (and sometimes thankless) care that the physicians in the Garden State provide on a daily basis, we also recognize that the time for education about childhood vaccinations is now,” stated MSNJ chief executive officer Michael T. Kornett. “Many of us would be standing here today if we hadn’t had proper childhood immunizations. The decision to vaccinate children lies with informed parents, which is the very reason we’ve come together today.”
According to a published report in New Jersey Vaccine Voice (Spring 2009), recent data from the National Immunization Survey reveals that New Jersey is ranked 43rd in the nation in delivering timely immunizations. “We have nearly succeeded in eradicating diseases that ended millions of children’s lives just two generations ago,” said Ira Klein, MD, MBA, FACP, Aetna’s Medical Director, Patient Management, Northeast Region/New Jersey. “However, New Jersey has some of the nation’s lowest childhood immunizations rates. This serious problem is due to a number of factors, and fixing it will take cooperation from all parties to the health care system.”
Physicians and health care leaders in New Jersey also shed light on the issue of vaccinations and its perceived link to autism. Last month, vaccinations and autism were at the forefront of news reports when a special court ruling on vaccines rejected the theory that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine combined with the preservative thimerosal triggered autism.
Featured speaker and nationally renowned expert on childhood vaccinations Margaret Fisher, MD stated, “Vaccines undergo extensive safety testing before they are licensed; safety studies continue indefinitely after licensure. The vaccine schedule is designed to ensure that all children are protected as soon as possible and as fully as possible.”
Dr. Fisher is also Medical Director of the Children's Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center and chair of the section of Infectious Disease in the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“Our children are our future; we want to ensure their optimal health and well being,” she added.
The Medical Society of New Jersey, NJ Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and others encourage New Jerseyans to speak to doctors about immunizations, not only to protect children, but to protect yourselves.
To learn more about vaccination safety visit
www.msnj.org/patients
Medical Society of New Jersey
Founded in 1766, the Medical Society of New Jersey (MSNJ) is the oldest professional society in the United States. MSNJ promotes the betterment of the public health and the science and the art of medicine, to enlighten public opinion in regard to the problems of medicine, and to safeguard the rights of the practitioners of medicine. The organization and its members are dedicated to a healthy New Jersey, working to ensure the sanctity of the physician-patient relationship. In representing all medical disciplines, MSNJ advocates for the rights of patients and physicians alike, for the delivery of the highest quality medical care. For more information visit: www.msnj.org.
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Patient Alert!
It takes only minutes to act now and stop the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance from increasing your health care costs
New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Proposes Regulation Concerning Out-of Network Fees
THE PROBLEM
The Department of Banking & Insurance (DOBI) has proposed regulations that will increase the amount patients pay directly, out-of-pocket, for out-of-network medical care. MSNJ opposes this regulation, since it will reduce patients’ rights to choose their doctor by making out-of-network care too expensive. It will also cost patients more when an in-network specialist can’t be found. MSNJ believes this proposal is simply misguided, and we need your help to call for its withdrawal.
Patients will pay more for health care under these regulations.
This regulation will limit your access by making out-of-network and specialized care too expensive!
You, the patient, pay a premium for your coverage. Under this proposal, you will get very little coverage for your premium dollar. The only winners under the proposed regulation are the insurance companies.
In their own analysis the Department of Banking and Insurance admits:
- These proposed amendments “will likely have a negative economic impact on covered persons who opt to use out-of-network non-hospital providers”.
and
- “Carriers will be positively impacted because they will pay less”
The entire text of the proposed amended can be found on DOBI's web site .
Action Needed!
- Read more about the proposed regulation’s effect on your out of pocket health care costs, click here.
- Tell DOBI you cannot afford to have your healthcare costs increased. It only takes 5 minutes to Click on this ALERT and TAKE ACTION!
- Click here to JOIN MSNJ HEALTHCARE ADVOCATES to receive important information about this issue and other healthcare issues as they arise.
MSNJ Positions on Key Public Policy Issues