COVID-19 Hospitalizations

The hospitalization rate of unvaccinated COVID patients is 29 times that of vaccinated patients, according to a report by the Centers for Disease and Prevention.

According to research done by Blue Cross Blue Shield, the average cost for a hospitalized patient with COVID could reach as high as $45,000 and over $100,000 for patients in the ICU. Throughout the pandemic, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan says they paid $750 Million for COVID treatment, and roughly 250,000 thousand of their members paid zero.

More than 70% of the nation's largest insurers are no longer waiving COVID-19 treatment costs, according to Kaiser, which surveyed the two largest insurers in each state and Washington, D.C.. Another 10% of plans plan to phase out cost-sharing by the end of October.

Blue Cross Blue Shield studied more than 90,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus pulled from a diverse selection of its membership. The group found COVID-19 cases treated in an outpatient setting cost between $500 and $1,000 per member on average, with the average age of patients seeking such care being 34.

When members were hospitalized with the virus, costs were 45 times higher than for cases treated on an outpatient basis. For members who needed a stay in the intensive care unit, costs jumped another 2.5 times compared to other hospitalizations, Blue Cross Blue Shield found.