Hospital costs for unvaccinated COVID-19 patients can average $20,000, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) study.
“While real-time data on the cost of all COVID-19 hospitalizations are not publicly available, various sources point to an average hospitalization cost of around $20,000. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reports that Medicare fee-for-service COVID-19 hospitalizations average $24,033,” wrote the study authors.
Analysis of CDC data showed that between June and July there was a total of 113,00 preventable COVID hospitalizations among unvaccinated adults in the U.S. at a cost of $2 billion dollars.
The authors cited several studies detailing the costs associated with COVID hospitalizations.
For example, a study of Medicare fee-for-service enrollees found an average COVID hospitalization cost $21,752 while A FAIR Health analysis of private claims data including employer and private Medicare Advantage plans found that COVID hospitalization costs ranged from $17,094 for people over age 70 to $24,012 for people in their 50s.
In a KFF analysis, pre-pandemic private insurance claims for pneumonia hospitalizations with complications averaged $20,292 and when a hospitalized patient needed a ventilator, the costs were even higher.
“The monetary cost of treating unvaccinated people for COVID-19 is borne not only by patients but also by society more broadly, including taxpayer-funded public programs and private insurance premiums paid by workers, businesses, and individual purchasers,” wrote the study authors.
Read the report here.