I, for one, am getting very tired of hearing about people’s ‘constitutional rights’ to refuse to get vaccinated and wear masks in order to help stop the spread of this pandemic that is affecting each and every one of us. The fact is, these selfish decisions are not only putting the health of others at risk but they are costing all of us real dollars. According to a recent report1, unvaccinated Americans who were hospitalized, cost the U.S. health care system $2.3 billion (yes, that’s ‘billion’ with a ‘b’) for just this past June and July (that’s only for two months!). And who do you think is going to pay that bill?2 That’s right – you and I.
Insurance companies, generally not known for their altruism, are not going to eat the costs of treating COVID patients. They are going to, one way or another, pass those costs along to all of their customers. If your response is simply that they will get reimbursed by ‘the government,’ that is nonsense. Who is ‘the government’ and where does the government get their money – from all of us taxpayers! Whether the insurance companies and hospitals start billing all of us directly for these increased costs, or they get reimbursed through some government program, we are all paying the costs of these stupid, selfish decisions.
Not only are these people costing all of the rest of us real dollars but they are having a huge negative impact on the ability of the healthcare system to respond to non-COVID medical issues. The news is replete with accounts of hospitals stopping all elective surgeries because they are so overwhelmed with COVID patients, almost all of whom are unvaccinated. Emergency rooms are flooded with COVID patients so if your normal heart attack or car crash victim comes through the door, their chances of survival are reduced because resources are strained and staff are exhausted and stretched way to thin. Do the people refusing to get vaccinated and follow public health measures really have a constitutional right to overwhelm the healthcare system and put the rest of us at risk?
Ironically, many of the same people who wrap themselves in their Conservative beliefs about freedom to make these decisions, scream bloody murder about the cost of illegal immigration to the US taxpayers. Just look at any Conservative website like that of the Heritage Foundation and you will see articles decrying the cost of illegal immigration to the American taxpayer. And yet, these same people are making decisions that are costing all of us real taxpayer dollars and real dollars out of our pockets from the higher insurance premiums that will inevitably come.
Some companies, such as Delta Airlines, have enacted policies that will result in staff members who refuse to get vaccinated, a monthly insurance premium increase of $200 per month. That’s the way it should be. All of these people who are costing us money should start having to pay their share of the bill that they have created. People who smoke pay higher insurance premiums. People who refuse to get vaccinated should be in the same category. Society as a whole should not have to pay the cost incurred by people making stupid selfish decisions.
Most state and local governments have enacted laws prohibiting smoking inside buildings and in certain other designated areas. Why? Because the science found that exposure to second hand smoke was jeopardizing the health of other people! So, now these same government entities have enacted laws to prohibit such things as mask mandates when it has been proven that mask wearing helps stop the spread of this disease and jeopardizing the health of other people! How does that make any sense whatsoever?
Given the current availability of COVID vaccines and the fact that they are free, there is absolutely no excuse for people not to get vaccinated except for some misguided notion of ‘freedom’. Unfortunately, these people crying ‘freedom’ are really saying a big ‘Fuck You!’ to the rest of us and it is adversely impacting all of our lives and our wallets. It is way past time for all of these people to start bearing the cost of their selfish decisions.
The fact is, the biggest threat to the security of all Americans today does not come from illegal immigrants, potential terrorists that might have slipped into the United States via the evacuation of Afghan refugees, or from Democratic ‘socialists. The biggest threat to the security and safety of all Americans today is the collective stupidity of all of the people who refuse to take basic public health measures by wrapping themselves in some misguided understanding of ‘Constitutional rights.’