Reddit post on Delta $200 month employee health insurance for un-vaxxed workers

[packman]

I think you will see this become the norm VERY quickly.

....To not do so (increasing health insurance premiums) will result in failures across the board in both hospital systems and insurance companies who have been basing their risk exposure and premiums on prepandemic stats.

The AVERAGE cost to patient for a COVID admit is 70k ish if uninsured.

Anyone care to spitball what a MONTH in the ICU on a vent costs?

[EDIT] Welp, this blew up so I thought I would add current CDC (US) hospitalization data

USA has logged approx 2.66 million hospital admits for COVID in the last 12 months.

Using my previous figure of 70k per (uninsured) admit, we come to 186 BILLION dollars.

Our current (7 day average) admit numbers are approx 12.2k per day.

That's $850,000,000 per day and currently the numbers are still rising.

[Ocelot II]

1. The reason Delta can raise health insurance premiums is that they self-insure

their employees' health coverage, meaning they pay for it directly (United Health only administers it). Insurance companies themselves can't raise premiums because the ACA allows them to do it only for smokers; the ACA would have to be amended to allow it. However, other large companies probably also self-insure and I would expect them to do what Delta has done.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Can Insurance Companies Do It?

Delta seems a different case because they are a huge volume employer, with high daily overall cash flow.
So, it makes sense for them to have their own actuaries & manage their own health plan. The ACA rules about premium increases wouldn't seem to apply.
But, insurance companies are essentially prohibited from premium adjustments based upon risks associated with existing health conditions.
COVID makes this tricky, as nearly everybody appears susceptible to COVID.
Since around 65% of very large companies have health plans like Delta, it is likely to spread.
But, hundreds or thousands of companies with a quarter billion or even up to $8 or $10 billion in sales, contract group plans through big insurers, who seem blocked by ACA.
I'm not seeing how this move becomes ubiquitous.

[Ocelot II]

3. No. The ACA doesn't allow insurance companies to base premiums on health conditions

except for smoking. Delta can do it because they can afford to self-insure.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. Sufficient Employee Base, Too

IIRC, it becomes economical when a company gets to around 12,000 employees.
But, there are companies with multiple billions in revenue that don't come close to that.
The company from which I retired had around three & a half billion in revenues, but only around 1,600 employees world wide.
That isn't a big enough premium base to adequately balance the risks.
Depending on total revenue & margins, 12,000 could be tenuous. But, Delta has around 68k employees. It makes sense for them.

[fescuerescue]

7. Delta is also grandfathered in

New companies that self insure cannot do it.

Just self-insured plans that existed before ACA.

[viva la]

4. Also Delta has many employees with direct customer contact--

It would not be good for biz to get a reputation for customers getting Covid at the airline gate or planes.

[elias7]

6. But, we have to keep the economy open!!!

Lord, what a bunch of short sighted morons