Preventable cost of COVID-19 hospitalizations from June to August hits $5.7B
Treatment costs for the summer surge are impacting patients, taxpayers and private insurance premiums.
As the number of individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 surges, a new analysis estimates that the total preventable costs of treating unvaccinated patients in hospitals in June, July, and August stand at $5.7 billion — including an estimated $3.7 billion in August alone.
“Despite the availability of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, vaccination rates have lagged, particularly in some states and among younger people,” according to officials overseeing the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker — an online information hub that monitors and assesses the performance of the U.S. health system. “As of early September 2021, 25% of adults over the age of 18 in the U.S. remain unvaccinated for COVID-19. As a result of lagging vaccinations and the more infectious Delta variant, COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are on the rise again.”
Related: The long road of long COVID: 5 states with the most (and least) cases
Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Disease Control indicates there were 32,000 preventable COVID-19 hospitalizations among unvaccinated adults in June, 68,000 preventable COVID-19 hospitalizations in July, and another 187,000 preventable COVID-19 hospitalizations in August — for a total of 287,000 across the three months.
As the latest Petersen-KFF Health System Tracker report states: “Various sources point to an average hospitalization cost of around $20,000. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reports that Medicare fee-for-service COVID-19 hospitalizations average $24,033. Another study of Medicare fee-for-service enrollees found an average COVID-19 hospitalization cost $21,752.”
The cost of treating unvaccinated Americans is shared by patients, taxpayer-funded public programs and private insurance premiums paid by workers, businesses, and individual purchasers.
BenefitsPRO reported last month that the Affordable Care Act and other laws prohibit insurers from charging unvaccinated people higher premiums. However, through wellness programs, employers could impose higher costs. Private insurers also have begun reinstating cost-sharing for COVID-19 hospitalizations. Adults largely can avoid these out-of-pocket costs and severe illness by getting free vaccinations.
“Unvaccinated people are … more likely to spread the virus to those who have taken measures to protect themselves and others, and those costs are not included in these estimates,” the Peterson-KFF report notes.
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