Doctors slash vaccines due to rising costs

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http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/08/news/econo...tions/index.htm

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Parents who bring their kids to Dr. G. Andrew McIntosh for the chicken pox vaccine are out of luck.

The family physician, who has a solo practice in Uniontown, Ohio, doesn't offer that shot because he can't afford it. Most insurers won't sufficiently cover the cost.

"It doesn't do me any good. I am losing money on [them]," he said. The chicken pox vaccine runs about $115, but insurers only cover between $68 to $83 of that.

McIntosh has also cut back on a handful of other critical childhood vaccines for the same reason -- including the measles, mumps and rubella, known as the MMR vaccine.

It costs him about $58 to buy an MMR shot, he said, while insurers pay about about $40.

So McIntosh keeps a lot less of the MMR on hand. If a patient needs the shot and he doesn't have it, he sends them to a nearby public health clinic.

"I'm not happy to do that," he said. "The clinic is far, the service isn't great and my patients aren't happy to go there."

Although he says he "feels compelled" to take care of people, he adds, "I can't save the world and pay for my staff," he said. "As we say, 'no margin, no mission.'"