A Blog by Jonathan Low

 

Sep 17, 2021

Unvaccinated US Covid Patients Cost $5.7 Billion To Treat During Past 3 Months

A billion here and a billion there and pretty soon that adds up to real money...JL

Robert Hart reports in Forbes:

187,000 Covid-19 hospitalizations could have been easily prevented by vaccination in August, up from 68,000 in July and 32,000 in June. These preventable hospitalizations over the past three months cost the U.S. healthcare system around $5.7 billion, Kaiser estimates based on the average Covid-19 hospital bill of approximately $20,000. The “ballpark figure is likely an understatement: one study cited put the figure at $42,200. There are “substantial” costs for outpatient Covid-19 treatment, though this was not factored into the analysis.
Preventable costs associated with treating unvaccinated American Covid-19 patients amounted to at least $3.7 billion in August and $5.7 billion since June, according to research by the Kaiser Family Foundation, as the disease rips through people who elected not to get free and highly effective vaccines. 

Around 187,000 Covid-19 hospitalizations could have been easily prevented by vaccination in August, research by Kaiser found, up from 68,000 in July and 32,000 in June. 

These preventable hospitalizations over the past three months cost the U.S. healthcare system around $5.7 billion, Kaiser estimates based on the average Covid-19 hospital bill of approximately $20,000.

The “ballpark figure is likely an understatement of the cost burden from preventable treatment of Covid-19 among unvaccinated adults,” according to the report, which noted significant variations in costs across the country, a “conservative” estimate of the proportion of Covid-19 patients who hadn’t been vaccinated and studies indicating a potentially much higher average cost than the $20,000 used (one cited put the figure at around $42,200).

There are also “substantial” costs for outpatient Covid-19 treatment, the report said, though this was not factored into the analysis. 

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

Due to laws preventing insurers from charging unvaccinated people higher premiums, the Kaiser report said the bill will fall on everyone as they will pay only “a small share of the cost” directly. This means a greater burden on the taxpayer and the risk of higher insurance premiums for businesses and workers, the report said. The costs of being unvaccinated are on the rise, however, with some employers charging higher insurance premiums to employees foregoing vaccination and others making it a condition of work. They are also facing elevated costs for healthcare as insurance companies walk back the waivers on out-of-pocket costs for Covid-19 hospital care introduced earlier in the pandemic. 

KEY BACKGROUND

The Covid-19 vaccines used in the U.S. are proven to be safe and highly effective at preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death from Covid-19, including against the delta variant. They are also supposed to be free and have no out-of-pocket costs. Despite being readily available for months, some states still have very low vaccination rates and many have still not hit the target of partially vaccinating 70% of adults that President Joe Biden set for early July. While breakthrough infections are rare, they can and do happen, though vaccines slash the risks of long Covid, hospitalization and serious illness. The vast majority of hospitalizations and nearly all deaths from Covid-19 are in unvaccinated people. The huge surge in demand for what few medicines are licensed to treat Covid-19 in the U.S. has triggered nationwide shortages and rationing of scarce supplies. 

4 comments:

Unknown said...

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tech reviews said...

The “ballpark figure is likely an understatement of the cost burden from preventable treatment of Covid-19 among unvaccinated adults
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terrytomyzs said...

the report said, though this was not factored into the analysis.
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