Vaccinations are a political issue that should have never been political. We have roughly 50% of the country refusing to get vaccinated. My red state of Florida has a governor that proudly gets in the way of promoting the vaccine. You’re about to see these die-hard, anti-vaxxers get vaccinated and it’s not because they are afraid to die or are afraid their kids will die. They will get vaccinated because of money.
I work in employee benefits where I handle large employers in the state of Florida. Many of these employers have tried to promote vaccines and do not want to mandate them but that has dramatically changed this week. Why? Because the bill is now due. Last year, employers were not really paying for COVID claims. Most of the people being hospitalized were elderly so they were not insured by employers. Also, when there were hospitalizations, employers did not see the cost right away. Well now the bill is due and employers are beginning to penalize the unvaccinated.
Hospitalization costs have increased dramatically due to COVID. The people now being hospitalized are younger and sicker—they are the insured workforce. Often, a plan will pay $250,000 or more for an ICU patient—only for that patient to die. These large employers are mostly self-insured which means that they are paying for these claims. It has gotten too expensive. Employers can not afford to spend millions on a few COVID claims that could have been prevented with a free vaccine. Delta Airlines started imposing penalties on unvaccinated employees yesterday. Several more employers joined in today. Employers will charge more for unvaccinated employees to have health insurance. Some employers have stopped hiring the unvaccinated. I even know one employer that said “get the vaccine or get terminated.” It is happening. The unvaccinated will become the uninsured or unemployed. Money will be the motivating factor to get the vaccine. Employers have tried the carrot unsuccessfully; it’s now time for the stick.
Anti-vaxxers will keep their freedom—they will be free to make the choice of getting the vaccine. However, they will also be free to get another job, if they can find one that will hire them.