MarketWatch: Don’t want the COVID-19 vaccine? Then pay the full cost if you land in the hospital
One of the fundamental lessons of economics is that people respond to incentives – just witness the success of vaccine lotteries at encouraging vaccinations. But a policy of letting the unvaccinated foot the bill for their COVID-related hospitalizations is only partly about wielding a financial stick to push reluctant people into vaccination. It’s also about not expecting others to pay for your decisions. Standing up for your beliefs means being willing to bear the consequences. Otherwise, it’s just cheap talk.
In an opinion piece for MarketWatch, academic economist Jonathan Meer argues that the unvaccinated should not receive insurance money or government handouts to pay for their COVID-19 hospitalizations.
“Those of us who are vaccinated did the responsible thing. It’s time for the unvaccinated to live up to the ideals of individual freedom and personal responsibility by taking on more of the consequences of their actions,” writes Meer.
