Sharpening the vax

There’s more than one way to skin a cat, but nobody should really be skinning cats. At a time when the delta variant is exploding, a stubborn contingent of Americans still refuses to protect themselves and 1,200 a day are dying from COVID, there’s more than one way to get America vaccinated — and that’s a project that everyone should be on board with, public and private sector alike.

We therefore heap praise on delta’s accidental namesake Delta, which is charging unvaccinated employees an additional $200 a month to remain on the company’s health plan. Blanket no-jab, no-job mandates like those at Microsoft, Tyson Foods and others are preferable, but anything that gets us closer to snuffing out the deadly virus is praiseworthy.

Employers should not be the only ones tightening the screws. Health insurers, which earlier in the pandemic tended to cover all out-of-pocket costs for anyone hospitalized with COVID, are altering their policies for a time in which vaccines are widely available, free and approved by the FDA. The Kaiser Family Foundation finds that 72% of the top two insurers by state, adding up to more than 100 health plans, are no longer covering those charges, which is to say that for them, COVID is being treated like any other illness. As Kaiser concludes, “As more waivers expire, more people hospitalized for COVID-19 — the vast majority of whom are unvaccinated — will likely receive significant medical bills for their treatment.”

We wish for no one to get hospitalized, much less have to wrestle with thousands of dollars in charges upon being sent home. And with children under 12 still ineligible for any vaccine, they should be wholly spared from such a shift.

But for adults who refuse to get vaccinated then wind up severely ill, it’s wholly reasonable for insurers to ensure costs aren’t passed along to those of us who do the responsible thing for themselves and society. Get vaxxed: It’s better for you, your loved ones and your pocketbook.