REPORT: Unvaccinated Americans cost the health system $5.7 billion so far

A surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations during this summer’s Delta wave has cost the nation’s health care system $5.7 billion in preventable expenses, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The amount spent on unvaccinated patients in August hit $3.9 billion, almost twice the figure spent on unvaccinated COVID patients in June and July combined. At least 86% of the 530,000 people hospitalized for COVID during that time were unvaccinated. Each hospitalization was estimated to cost $20,000—a cost to taxpayer-funded public insurance programs and the workers and businesses paying health insurance premiums.

Despite the availability of COVID-19 vaccines, as many as 60 million adults—24% of the U.S. population over age 18—have yet to receive a single dose, including many young people. Some states, including Wyoming, Idaho, and Mississippi, have vaccinated just 40% of their populations, according to New York Times data. Those numbers and the more infectious Delta variant are responsible for a surge in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.

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