Dear Fellow Advocates,
We are  so very excited to announce that our legislators are responding to our pleas and, as of last week, the Informed Consent Protection Act has been introduced in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as HB2683!

This legislation will do the following:

• A health care practitioner or facility will not be permitted to refuse to treat a child whose parent has chosen to delay or decline one or more vaccines.
• A health care practitioner may not require a patient or guardian to sign a self-incriminating waiver as a condition for continuing to provide medical care.
• A health care practitioner may not accept a financial incentive from an insurance or pharmaceutical company for vaccinating patients or for maintaining a certain rate of vaccinated patients within his or her medical practice.
• An insurer shall not deny a health care practitioner’s participation in an insurance plan or decrease their reimbursements through fines or financial penalties due to low patient vaccination rates or due to a practitioner’s decision not to vaccinate a patient.

The legislation also outlines a series of fines and penalties in the event that a health care practitioner does not comply with the legislation.

Passing this bill will likely be more of a marathon than a sprint, so we ask that you PLEASE strap on your sneakers and get ready to take action when these alerts come out!

Today’s action step:

• Print out a copy of the Fall 2018 Newsletter
• Hand deliver or mail it to your PA Representative (this will be the first name that comes up when you use the legislative search tool, right after the words “PA House”).  Please include a personal note or take a few minutes to talk with the office staff about why this legislation is NECESSARY.

Discrimination in the Pediatrician’s office is unethical, and it needs to be ILLEGAL.