Unvaccinated Nevada workers will pay more on their health insurance – NBC Chicago

Nevada will be the first state to charge a surcharge to state workers enrolled in health insurance plans if they are not vaccinated.

The state’s Public Employees Benefits Program Board voted Thursday to charge unvaccinated workers up to $ 55 per month to offset the costs of testing those who have not received vaccinations in certain workplaces.

“This pandemic has been burdened with everyone’s burden. And now this particular burden, the proof, must fall on the burden of those who refuse (to be vaccinated), ”said DuAne Young, policy director for Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak.

Surcharges for state workers and adults dependent on their plans will take effect in July 2022.

Notably, since the start of the pandemic, public sector plans have covered all coronavirus-related tests and treatments for state workers. Although many other plans stopped completely covering testing when vaccines became widely available, insurance plans for state workers have continued to pay for them in full.

MORE ARE UNVACCINATED

In Nevada workplaces, where fewer than 70% of employees have received vaccinations, employees must be tested weekly to prevent the spread of the virus.

Although President Joe Biden’s labor mandates face legal challenges, if they go into effect, all unvaccinated workers will have to undergo weekly tests, a development that would significantly increase the costs of these tests.

Authorities said coronavirus-related claims filed by state workers were on track to exceed $ 6 billion in 2021. By charging state workers and their dependents over the age of 18, the plans will help offset the cost of testing. to people who refuse to be vaccinated.

Laura Rich, executive director of the benefits program, argued that some public sector plans, including for Dallas Fort Worth International Airport workers, have imposed surcharges on unvaccinated employees, but, to her knowledge, Nevada would be the first state. in imposing a system-wide surcharge on public employee plans.

She compared the premium to a smoking surcharge and said it would help fund roughly $ 18 million in annual testing costs. With thousands of workers not vaccinated, he stressed that administrators had to decide how much tax dollars should pay for the medical costs of those who chose not to get vaccinated.

AGAINST UNIONS

The surcharge presented a dilemma for liberal-leaning workers’ unions.

Tom Verducci, a board member representing state workers’ deferred compensation plans, voted against the surcharge and said he opposed the idea of ​​imposing additional costs on workers regardless of the reason.

“State employees have been hit hard with no raises for several years. And I think about the soul at the Lovelock working for the Department of Corrections, paying $ 800 a month on a trailer with three kids. I have difficulties with this one, ”he replied.

Nevada estimates that approximately 5,000 state workers and 1,250 employees of the Nevada Higher Education System are not vaccinated. The state hopes that incentives and penalties like the surcharge will convince more people to get vaccinated, Rich said.

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