At some point soon, free hospital treatment of COVID-19 for the unvaccinated should end.
If you forgo the vaccination and contract a severe case requiring hospitalization, then you should have to pay for your treatment just like a smoker pays for treatment from illnesses resulting from smoking cigarettes.
If you have been vaccinated and contract a severe case requiring hospitalization, then you should not have to pay for treatment, or the government should reimburse you or your insurance company.
Getting vaccinated should be a requirement by your health insurance company or you don't get coverage.
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...COVID hospitalization was free? For everyone? Forever?
I googled “is covid hospitalization free?” and came up with this from last November
https://www.nextavenue.org/the-sky-high-cost-of-some-covid-19-hospital-bills/
>You may have heard that a law Congress passed this spring (The Families First Coronavirus Response Act) said health insurers would cover the cost of COVID-19 testing. But the law didn't include the cost of coronavirus treatment. (More)
>
There’s plenty of other articles. I then googled “how much does covid treatment cost?”
This came up
>In July, the report showed nationally the median charge amount for COVID-19 inpatient care – for people without insurance or who went out of network – was $45,683 for people aged 51 to 60 and $34,662 for those in the 23 to 30 age bracket. Nov 5, 2020.
> Average cost of hospital care for COVID-19 ranges from ...https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com › news › average...
You can certainly do a more refined search than the quick one I just did.
Insurance companies may have done some grace periods, but live or die, hospitalization seems to average out about $30,000, and that’s for people who don’t stay in on a vent for months. Long-haulers have to deal with medications and treatments from their homes.
Over a year ago I wondered if we would see hospitals going bankrupt, or if real reform would finally be imposed on Blue Cross and the rest of the for-profit industry. None of our American system is really sustainable — and that’s all without excluding smokers, drinkers, and non-vaxxers. Oh and gay men who might get AIDS — remember when that was a thing?
If we start allowing people to be excluded from medical care for being non-compliant with a perfect health regimen, we will be stepping into a system even more inhumane than the one we already had before the pandemic. I’ve been in on discussions over whether the undocumented workers in my county should be getting “our” medical care for contagious diseases like TB or non-contagious conditions like childbirth. First, they are openly recruited by farmers, even if they don’t have papers. Second, they are producing the food you and I eat. Third, — WTF? I mean, WTAF?
So no — medical care is or should be in a category all its own. People get treated for medical conditions, regardless. We don’t get to call ourselves ethical or moral human beings if we knowingly let people suffer and die for being poor or for being flawed human beings.
