As many workers returned to their offices this fall, employers took on much of the expense of paying for weekly COVID testing, as well as insurance coverage and paid leave for sick and quarantined workers. These extra expenses may well lead to higher insurance premiums for everyone.
However, some companies are proactively seeking to offset COVID-related expenses for workers who remain unvaccinated – and are therefore at greater risk of incurring extra cost. Last August, Delta Air Lines reported that the company was paying out an average of $50,000 per worker hospitalized with the coronavirus – the most recent of whom were unvaccinated. Because the company self-insures and bears the brunt of the pandemic’s financial risk, Delta began imposing a $200 monthly premium surcharge for unvaccinated workers beginning in November 2021.1
An increasing number of large employers are implementing vaccine mandates on workers or forcing them to take unpaid leave, including Ford Motor Company. The company’s 32,000 salaried employees are expected to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 8, 2021.2
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, in October, 25% of U.S. workers reported that their employer had required them to get a COVID-19 vaccine, and the number of public job postings that require vaccinated candidates doubled in October.3 While the debate continues regarding mandated vaccines versus civil liberties, the U.S. health industry is expected to undergo changes as a result of the pandemic. Moving forward, the nation’s health system must address the challenge of how to treat more than 330 million people effectively and affordably without resorting to incentives, mandates and the rationing of care that has taken place in hospitals around the country.
In fact, Congress is currently debating proposals to include vision, hearing and dental care within the Medicare program. This would be a tremendous advantage for retirees, as those with original Medicare coverage must pay for these expenses out of pocket. According to an October survey by the Kaufman Family Foundation, 41% of older adults struggle to pay for dental care and 30% may forgo hearing and vision care due to the cost.4
Clearly, health care is an expensive burden on retiree household budgets. If you’re looking for ways to supplement your income to pay for these expenses, we may be able to help.
One silver lining that emerged from the pandemic was widespread adoption of telemedicine services. The use of telemedicine by health-care professionals increased by 1,000%. Furthermore, the number of online pharmacy orders rose 45%.5
In addition to microchips, the U.S. is dependent on other countries to develop active
pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) – the primary components of common medications. About 80% of APIs are produced in China, India and a few other foreign countries. During the height of the pandemic, key drugs such as antibiotics, blood pressure medicine, pain management and even the drugs used to put patients on ventilators were in short supply. There are currently new initiatives being put in place to ramp up on-demand domestic manufacturing capabilities to produce the most commonly used and vital medicines in the wake of future global shortages.6