I've seen in the news here and there that some employers or insurance companies want to levy fines to people who don't vaccinate, charge them higher medical insurance premiums, triage sick unvaccinated people after the sick vaccinated or other sick people, or not pay for part of all of the medical care that an unvaccinated person needs in order to recover from Covid.
That kind of planning scares me. It's a slippery slope for insurance companies that could put former (or current) smokers at risk, or people who are obese, who have heart disease from obesity due to unhealthy lifestyle and need surgery... the list goes on.
My employer's insurance company gives a lower rate to employees who sign a contract saying they will have an annual preventative exam, follow all doctor's advice for tests, diet, etc, get a minimum level of exercise, and something else I'm not remembering right now. I'm fine with that.
I'm not fine with insurance companies deciding who shouldn't have smoked or eaten too many carbs or should have received a vaccination, therefore they're not going to cover you in sickness.
Every year, I get the flu vaccine, and I had a vaccines for pneumonia and shingles. The flu vaccine is apparently effective 40-60% each year. So with this new thinking, if I got the flu as a vaccinated person, and were hospitalized, I'd be covered. But what about since I used to be a smoker? If I were sicker than some non-smoker-vaccinated person, would my coverage be less?
I think we have to be diligent about what health insurance companies do with not wanting to cover unvaccinated Covid people. Whatever your politics for the vaccine, think of you or someone you love needing medical treatment as a consequence of having smoked a long time ago. Or as a consequence of obesity, or genetics, etc
Your thoughts?
