The cost of going unvaccinated against COVID-19 is clear: you’re at a higher risk of infection, hospitalization, and death; you’re more likely to transmit the virus to others; and, in certain jurisdictions, you can’t participate in a range of activities including eating out or going to live events.
Then there’s the financial burden the uninoculated levy on society. According to a new report from The Peterson Center on Healthcare and the Kaiser Family Foundation, “In June and July 2021, COVID-19 hospitalizations among unvaccinated adults cost the U.S. health system over $2 billion.“
$2.3 billion to be precise…and the authors say that’s likely an underestimate.
The study found that the average COVID-19 hospitalization cost $20,000. The vast majority of that total, about $18,700, is covered by public and private insurance companies. Those companies, in turn, may raise the premiums they charge to consumers.
“These COVID-19 hospitalizations are devastating for patients, their families, and health care providers. The hospitalizations are also costing taxpayer-funded public insurance programs and the workers and businesses paying health insurance premiums,” the study finds. It asserts that the unvaccinated also harm society by causing delays in school re-openings and curbing the economic recovery.
The study adds, “Our analysis of CDC data indicates there were 37,000 preventable COVID-19 hospitalizations in June and another 76,000 preventable COVID-19 hospitalizations in July.” The unvaccinated represented 98.3% of all hospitalizations during that two month period.
The study concludes, “Though there was of course a societal cost to develop and distribute vaccinations, the vaccines save the U.S. health system money in the longer run by preventing costly hospitalizations.”