07-03-2025
House approves eliminating child vaccine program
Mar. 6—The state House of Representatives narrowly gave preliminary approval to a bill (HB 524) that would eliminate the New Hampshire Vaccine Association, which covers the cost of providing free vaccines to children.
State Rep. Jim Kofalt, R-Wilton, said the state spends nearly $1 million a year to oversee the program, which he said should be returned to the health care marketplace to administer.
"This bill has nothing to do with the merits of vaccines or the lack thereof," Kofalt said.
He said New Hampshire is one of only seven states that have such programs for childhood vaccines.
"Most (states) have rejected them as too costly and needlessly cumbersome," Kofalt said.
Without the Vaccine Association, providers will have to pursue insurers for reimbursement of the cost of free childhood vaccines, which are required under the Affordable Care Act.
House Minority Floor Leader Lucy Weber, D-Walpole, said the Vaccine Association, since its creation in 2022 has worked to obtain child vaccines at a discount and get them out to more than 200 pediatric practices across the state.
"I think the net effect is the cost of vaccines will go higher," Weber said. "This will make the vaccines less available to parents and kids."
Thursday's House vote was 189-181. Sixteen Republicans voted against the bill while Rep. Dale Girard of Claremont was the only Democrat to support it.
The measure now heads to the House Ways and Means Committee for its study, since an increase in the premiums tax on insurance companies pays for this program.
Rep. Jessica LaMontagne, D-Dover, said she learned firsthand the importance of vaccines when her father-in-law came down with polio in 1955 and spent the last two decades of his life paralyzed from the neck down.
All of his children, including LaMontagne's future husband, got vaccinated for polio, but the father contracted the disease before the shot was approved for adults, she said.
"The system works and does not need fixing," LaMontagne said. "This will result in outbreaks of preventable diseases. Vaccines have saved more lives than any other medical intervention in American history."
Kofalt said passing this bill will not change the fact that vaccines are provided to children with no copayments for those families that have health insurance or the state/federal Medicaid program.
He said the Vaccine Association, a nonprofit, is not accountable or transparent, insisting it is exempt from the state's Right-to-Know Law.
But Weber called the current program "parent friendly" as it allows families to decide whether or not they wish to have their children vaccinated.
Under current law, any parent can cite a religious exemption to avoid having their children vaccinated.
+++
What's Next: The House Ways and Means Committee will hold a second public hearing on this bill next month.
Prospects: Unclear. Not a single state senator has agreed to co-sponsor the bill. While not weighing in for or against it, Gov. Kelly Ayotte has said the current program works well.
klandrigan@
