Unvaccinated Nevada public employees to pay insurance surcharge [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Nevada will become the first state to have unvaccinated state workers pay a monthly health insurance surcharge.
• Unvaccinated workers covered under public employee healthcare plans will pay up to $55 per month, while their adult dependents will pay $175 per month.
• Surcharges will go into effect in July 2022.

Unvaccinated Nevada state workers and their adult dependents who are covered under public employee healthcare plans will pay a monthly surcharge starting July 2022.

The surcharge is set to offset the costs of COVID-19 testing, the Associated Press reported.

On Thursday, Nevada’s Public Employees’ Benefit Program Board voted in favor of a surcharge. Unvaccinated employees will pay $55 per month, while their dependents 18 years old and above will be charged $175 per month. 

“While the cost of surveillance testing is certainly going to be substantial and a main factor, the surcharge is also intended to help absorb the cost of increased COVID-related treatment and hospitalization costs,” executive officer of the Public Employees’ Benefit Program, Laura Rich said.

Weekly testing is mandated in Nevada workplaces, and it is estimated that for 2021 alone, over $6 million in COVID-19 claims will be filed by Nevada employees. 

Some organizations have imposed policies similar to the approved surcharge in an effort to compel employees to get the vaccine while underscoring how expensive it can be to remain unvaccinated within a community.

The largest health system in Louisiana said earlier this year that it would be charging $100 per pay period, or $200 monthly, to their workers if their partners or spouses that receive benefits through the employer remain unvaccinated.

“We spent more than $9 million on COVID care for those who are covered on our health plans over the last year. We know that COVID-19 vaccination dramatically reduces transmission, severity of symptoms, hospitalizations, and death. Approximately 90% of those hospitalized with COVID in our facilities have been unvaccinated since vaccines were approved in December 2020,” Ochsner Health President and CEO Warner Thomas said in a statement at the time, according to KLFY NEWS 10.

“Widespread vaccination is critical to stopping the spread of COVID-19, and we hope this change will encourage even more community members to get vaccinated,” he added.

The United States has now confirmed a handful of omicron variant cases, including in California, Hawaii, Colorado, New York and Minnesota. 

Health officials have continued to press people to get vaccinated or get their boosters if they have not already done so.

Source: The Hill