Ochsner Health, the largest non-profit health care system in Louisiana, has announced a significant change to its upcoming 2022 health benefits enrollment plans that could add a fee for employees whose spouses or domestic partners are on the system’s health insurance but are not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Ochsner released a statement that said, in part:
Each year, Ochsner Health evaluates health insurance and other benefits based on feedback from employees and changes that impact benefits, services and costs. One change to the upcoming 2022 healthcare benefits offering is a cost adjustment for adult dependents (spouses and domestic partners) who are not vaccinated against COVID-19. This fee is similar to what’s been in place for tobacco users and is in line with the benefits offered by many healthcare organizations and companies. This is not a mandate as non-employed spouses and domestic partners can choose to select a health plan outside of Ochsner Health offerings. As with our employee vaccination policy, spouses and domestic partners with medical and religious objections will be able to file exemption requests.As a self-insured organization, we work hard every year to keep our health premiums low for our employees and their families. The reality is the cost of treating COVID-19, particularly for patients requiring intensive inpatient care, is expensive, and we spent more than $9 million on COVID care for those who are covered on our health plans over the last year. We know that COVID-19 vaccination dramatically reduces transmission, severity of symptoms, hospitalizations, and death. Approximately 90% of those hospitalized with COVID in our facilities have been unvaccinated since vaccines were approved in December 2020.
