Hospitalizing the Unvaccinated Has Cost U.S. Nearly $6 Billion

THURSDAY, Sept. 16, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- The outgo of providing infirmary attraction for unvaccinated Americans has reached $5.7 cardinal successful conscionable 3 months, CBS News reported.

Between June and August, astir 287,000 radical who were not vaccinated were hospitalized for COVID-19 successful the United States, according to information from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and the Peterson Center connected Healthcare, which collaborated to way wellness attraction costs and quality.

Most adults successful the United States person had entree to vaccines since the spring, truthful these infirmary stays could apt person been avoided, the survey authors noted.

In the new report, the KFF-Peterson squad utilized information from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to estimation the mean outgo of hospitalization with COVID-19 astatine $20,000 per person. They past calculated the wide disbursal astatine $5.7 billion.

"This ballpark fig is apt an understatement of the outgo load from preventable attraction of COVID-19 among unvaccinated adults," the authors wrote, noting that the survey doesn't relationship for outpatient costs.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, compared to afloat vaccinated people, those who are unvaccinated are 11 times much apt to dice from COVID-19.

This survey factored successful that vaccines are effectual successful preventing terrible unwellness and hospitalization, and the occurrence of breakthrough infections successful afloat vaccinated people.

The disbursal of wellness attraction for radical with COVID-19 is "borne not lone by patients but besides by nine much broadly, including taxpayer-funded nationalist programs and backstage security premiums paid by workers, businesses and idiosyncratic purchasers," according to the authors of the report.

These shared costs – for copays, coinsurance oregon payments toward a deductible – person not ever been passed connected to the patient, but they soon could be.

As of November 2020, astir 90% of insured individuals would person had their out-of-pocket costs waived if they were hospitalized for COVID-19, according to the report. Now, much than 70% of the largest insurers are not waiving attraction costs. Another 10% volition signifier retired cost-sharing by the extremity of adjacent month, CBS News reported.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more connected COVID-19.

SOURCE: CBS News