http://www.reddit.com/r/COVIDrights/comments/q5k692/analysis_universal_health_care_advocates_turn_on/
ANALYSIS: Universal Health Care Advocates Turn On The Unvaccinated
US-HEALTH-VIRUS-VACCINE-BOOSTER
Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images
VARUN HUKERI
GENERAL ASSIGNMENT & ANALYSIS REPORTER
October 08, 2021
9:30 PM ET
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The financial cost of remaining unvaccinated against COVID-19 is rising
as more companies and health insurance providers are now proposing
insurance surcharges and other healthcare costs as a tool to drive up
vaccination rates.
Such measures have been backed by proponents of universal healthcare and
programs like Medicare for All, even though such policies are, in
theory, meant to offer all Americans healthcare at little to no cost
regardless of their medical status.
Elisabeth Rosenthal, the editor-in-chief of Kaiser Health News, has
argued unvaccinated people should be charged higher insurance rates as a
penalty in The New York Times, CNN and MSNBC. Yet she is a proponent of
universal healthcare, writing in a New York Times op-ed in May 2019 that
the point of healthcare “is to treat patients, not to buttress the economy.”
Arthur Caplan, a prominent medical ethicist, said in an August interview
with WBUR that unvaccinated people should “pay a financial penalty” or
otherwise be held liable for the cost of avoidable treatment. Yet during
the height of the Obamacare debate in 2010, he co-authored an academic
paper arguing that healthcare is a “right” and universal health
insurance “makes sense.”
Democratic California Rep. Ted Lieu invoked criticism on social media
when he tweeted Oct. 2 that unvaccinated people “engage in riskier
actions that increase health care costs and health care burdens on all
of us,” and in turn “should be the one paying for the increased risk.”
Ted Lieu
@tedlieu
If you are going to engage in riskier actions that increase health care
costs and health care burdens on all of us, then you should be the one
paying for the increased risk.
Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
Ochsner Health, Louisiana's largest healthcare provider, will raise
health insurance premiums for employees whose spouses or domestic
partners covered under its benefits plan are not vaccinated against
COVID.
https://bit.ly/39WT1lI
6:59 PM · Oct 2, 2021
8.8K
See the latest COVID-19 information on Twitter
Lieu, a supporter of Medicare for All, appears to be contradicting a
basic premise of universal healthcare. The New Republic, a liberal
outlet, noted in an article opposing additional financial costs on
unvaccinated people that under a universal healthcare system,
“individual health care use shouldn’t determine how much anyone pays
into the system.” (RELATED: Progressives Applaud Alabama Doctor Who
Refuses To Treat Patients Unvaccinated Against COVID-19)
Some critics have compared penalties for unvaccinated patients,
including denying them treatment altogether, to targeting patients with
health conditions such as obesity, a group that almost certainly would
use more healthcare services.
The relationship between health conditions like COVID-19 and obesity are
not unfounded, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
concluded in a March study that 78% of people hospitalized due to
COVID-19 were overweight or obese.
Lieu’s office did not comment at the time of publication to a request
from the Daily Caller. His office didn’t respond to questions about the
Body Mass Index (BMI) sliding scale and whether financial costs for the
unvaccinated is comparable to similar costs for obese people.
As supporters of universal healthcare begin to turn on unvaccinated
people, companies and health insurance providers are also moving forward
with plans to impose insurance surcharges and other financial costs.
Delta Airlines announced in late August that unvaccinated employees will
face a $200 premium surcharge per month on their health insurance.
Airlines have been among the most aggressive companies in targeting
unvaccinated employees.
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In a memo to employees, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the surcharge “will be
necessary to address the financial risk the decision to not vaccinate is
creating for our company.”
VICTORVILLE, CA - MARCH 24: A Delta Air Lines jet taxis to be parked
with a growing number of jets at Southern California Logistics Airport
(SCLA) on March 24, 2020 in Victorville, California. As the coronavirus
pandemic grows, exponentially increasing travel restrictions and the
numbers of people in quarantine, airlines around the world are
scrambling to find places to park a majority of their fleet as they wait
to see how the situation will play out. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
A Delta Air Lines jet taxis to be parked with a growing number of jets
at Southern California Logistics Airport (SCLA) on March 24, 2020 in
Victorville, California (David McNew/Getty Images)
Ochsner Health, the largest healthcare provider in Louisiana, announced
earlier in October that employees will be charged a $200 premium
surcharge per month if a spouse or partner covered under an Ochsner plan
is unvaccinated, The Times-Picayune reported.
JPMorgan Chase announced Monday that unvaccinated employees will not
only be required to pay higher payroll contributions next year for
health insurance, but will also be banned from business travel, Reuters
reported.
At the onset of the pandemic, most private insurance providers waived
cost-sharing for patients under their plans. Around 88% of insured
people in November 2020 had their out-of-pocket costs waived if they
were hospitalized for COVID-19, according to the Kaiser Family
Foundation (KFF).
But vaccines have become more easily available in recent months, and
more than 70% of insurance providers in turn no longer waive
out-of-pocket costs for COVID-19 treatment, the KFF concluded.
Companies and insurance providers are likely willing to place additional
financial costs on unvaccinated people because much of the cost for
COVID-19 treatment comes from that group. A CDC report in August found
that the hospitalization rate of unvaccinated people infected with
COVID-19 is 29 times that of vaccinated people. (RELATED: ‘The Only
Pandemic We Have Is Among The Unvaccinated’: Biden Says Facebook
Misinformation Is ‘Killing People’)
Experts believe insurance surcharges and other costs could become a more
common tool in limiting financial risks for companies and insurance
providers, as well as incentivizing people to get the vaccine.
HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA - AUGUST 07: Lisa Taylor receives a COVID-19
vaccination from RN Jose Muniz as she takes part in a vaccine study at
Research Centers of America on August 07, 2020 in Hollywood, Florida.
Research Centers of America is currently conducting COVID-19 vaccine
trials, implemented under the federal government's Operation Warp Speed
program. The center is recruiting volunteers to participate in the
clinical trials, working with the Federal Government and major
Pharmaceutical Companies, that are racing to develop a vaccine to
potentially prevent COVID-19. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Lisa Taylor receives a COVID-19 vaccine on August 07, 2020 in Hollywood,
Florida (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“Now that COVID-19 is largely preventable for most adults and employers
are pushing people really hard to get vaccinated, it makes a lot less
sense for those employers to be giving people who do get infected a
break,” said KFF Health Care Marketplace director Matthew Rae.
Some experts also dismissed criticism that financial costs for the
unvaccinated are similar to charging more for people with obesity or
other underlying health conditions.
“Your chronic illness isn’t going to jump to the person in the next
cubicle,” said Kenneth Campbell, an assistant professor at the Tulane
School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
“This is a wakeup call for people to get vaccinated,” he continued.
“We’re talking about bad decisions in terms of not getting vaccinated
and these are the consequences.”
Polling data indicates Americans are split on whether companies and
insurance providers should be able to charge unvaccinated people more in
health insurance premiums in order to cover for potential associated
medical costs from contracting COVID-19.
In a Harris poll conducted in August, 51% of respondents said they
oppose charging unvaccinated people more compared to 49% who said they
support the idea. Among those polled, 61% of vaccinated respondents said
they support the idea while 27% of unvaccinated respondents said the same.
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