Federal advisors propose breaking up measles and chickenpox shots

ACIP advises the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which, in turn, advises Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

What it means: The ACIP chickenpox could have a direct effect on employers' chickenpox vaccine benefits.

The Affordable Care Act requires employer plans to provide coverage for the vaccines and other services in the package "for free" — without imposing deductibles, co-payments or other cost-sharing requirements on the patients.

ACIP recommendations could end up creating a new vaccine package policy maze for employers.

But insurers have said they will try to keep the vaccination benefits that they will try to keep the vaccination benefits rules that were in effect Sept. 1, 2025, in place until the end of 2026.

Related: Insurers will continue cost-free coverage of COVID-19, flu vaccines

In the long run, the battle could give hints about the future of other federal health policy fights, such as fights over the group health tax exclusion and fights over the ability of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act to preempt state health benefits laws.

The vaccines: Today, most children get stand-alone chickenpox vaccines.

Some children get one shot that offers protection for measles, mumps and rubella as well as for chickenpox.

Supporters of the current rules argue that the combined shot increases the odds that children will be fully vaccinated, by making the vaccination process more convenient.

Critics argue that the chickenpox vaccine seems to cause more side effects and ought to be provided separately.

The hepatitis B vaccine protects people against a virus that once infected 18,000 babies per year and often causes severe, permanent liver damage.

Supporters of the current hepatitis B rules argue that the current vaccination effort has all but eliminated new cases of the disease.

Critics question the safety of the hepatitis B vaccine and want doctors to wait until babies are at least a month old before giving them that vaccine.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices: Congress tried to set up ACIP in such a way that members of the panel would be insulated from political pressure from Democrats, Republicans or the HHS secretary.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a recent Affordable Care Act preventive services case that the creation of federal advisory panels can be constitutional only if the members were confirmed by Congress or can be hired and fired by the HHS secretary.

Kennedy used the authority provided by that ruling to fire all of the ACIP members who were serving on the panel in the spring and replace them with his own appointees. Some of the new appointees have been known for their criticism of current U.S. vaccine policies.

Kennedy and other cabinet secretaries in the administration of President Donald Trump may be able to use the same Supreme Court ruling to replace the members of any other federal advisory panels that were supposed to be insulated from political pressure.

The vaccination bill: A House Democrat — Frank Pallone of New Jersey — has introduced a bill that would require health coverage providers, including fully insured and self-insured employer plans, to continue to offer "free" access to the vaccinations recommended by ACIP on Oct. 25, 2024, until 2030, according to a draft of the bill text posted Thursday.