Insurers want the non-vaccinated to start paying up for their treatment

Thomas Veil

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And about time, too.

But with effective coronavirus vaccines widely available, most insurers are no longer waiving those costs, according to KFF. The change reflects a broader push by U.S. companies to nudge workers into getting inoculated in hopes of holding down medical expenses. To that end, Delta Air Lines this week said that it would charge unvaccinated employees an extra $200 a month for health coverage.​
The only problem?

"The cost of hospitalization for COVID-19 is tens of thousands of dollars, but most people admitted to hospital, even if they're paying cost-sharing, are only responsible for a fraction of that. It's not like they're hit with a big bill," Rae said.
Maybe if you were stubborn enough to put yourself in harm's way, you should have to pay the entire cost.
 

Thomas Veil

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@P_X , how much will that work? I would think burnout would be a large factor. At some point people say, “They can’t pay me enough to put up with this.” Even people considering nursing school may think twice.
 
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@P_X , how much will that work? I would think burnout would be a large factor. At some point people say, “They can’t pay me enough to put up with this.” Even people considering nursing school may think twice.
It depends on a couple of things. Will COVID uphold the extra demand? Probably yes....This is a seasonal virus, I expect this years' waves to replicate that of last year's. Will the supply hold? The thing about nurses (and I love this in America), that they won't take shit forever. They'll first take higher paying jobs even if they have to travel for them (they pay a $5-10K signing bonus these days). Based on my estimates, this year a busy nurse can hit the 200K ceiling. My wife knows a bunch of nurses who decided to take those jobs, and then chill for a while. Experienced nurses may just decide to work part-time, older ones may retire, etc. This hero bullshit wore off last year, so I doubt it would compensate for the COVID shitshow deterring nursing candidates.

My wife is an ICU nurse for example, and it's sorta funny that her employer pretends that they have an upper hand due to prestige, but in reality finding or training ICU nurses takes a way more time and resources than it would be worth it for them to be OK with high turnover.
 

AG_PhamD

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I’ve had this suggestion all along. If vaccines prevent the majority of hospitalizations and deaths, why should insurance pay for COVID-related healthcare if you’re not vaccinated?

Alternatively insurance could charge higher premiums. This might actually be the better route considering a lot of young people don’t get vaccinated because of their statistically lower chances of serious disease.
 

lizkat

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@P_X , how much will that work? I would think burnout would be a large factor. At some point people say, “They can’t pay me enough to put up with this.” Even people considering nursing school may think twice.
That was already happening before covid. Nurses got tired of being treated like they were today's cheap cuts in the meat market every morning while hospitals decided how to cover staffing shortages in assorted units. Psych nurses to orthopedics, geriatrics to neonatal, wtf.

I can't even imagine what it must have been like during covid.

My sister and her partner (she a psych unit director, he an ER specialist) had both long ago said ok enough of the warm-body auction approach to meeting staff requirements every day, and they headed off to do 13-week temp assignments in places they both wanted to visit for awhile; Alaska, Northern California, New Mexico...

They loved it and kept on doing that with a few six-week breaks until they retired. Can do anything for 13 weeks at good pay and not enough time to develop lifelong animosities with administrators, insurance reps or any of all those other two-legged bean counting tornados that can whip into the room while you're adjusting a patient's IV and manage to turn your whole day upside down for no particular MEDICAL reason. Possibly that aspect might have lightened up during covid, who knows. The insurance reps at least may have declined to insert themselves into the crossfire of covid, so to speak.
 
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