• Delta Air Lines charges a $200 monthly surcharge to employees on the company health plan who do not get a COVID-19 shot.
• The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) announced that public employees in Nevada, along with their adult dependents, would be charged a surcharge on their state health insurance plan if they don’t get a COVID-19 shot by July 2022.
• Mercyhealth, which runs hospitals and health clinics in Wisconsin and Illinois, deducts $60 per month from employees’ wages if they choose not to get the shot.
• By making COVID-19 injections a requirement of a wellness program, companies may be able to skirt legal issues, as they’re “rewarding” members who participate in the program by letting them avoid the premium surcharge hoisted on the unvaccinated.
• While health insurance companies have long charged higher premiums based on factors like smoking, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requires that penalties not be so large as to be coercive.

Those who choose not to get a COVID-19 shot may face higher costs for healthcare related to COVID-19.

For the first 1.5 years of the pandemic, health insurance companies routinely paid for all costs related to COVID-19, waiving deductibles and copays across the board. Policies have since changed, with many private insurers no longer picking up the tab for hospitalizations and other costs related to COVID-19.

However, those who haven’t received COVID-19 shots could end up paying the most.

While health insurance companies cannot deny health insurance to someone because they don’t get a COVID-19 shot, it’s possible that they could face increased costs — similar to smokers, who also pay a premium for health insurance coverage.