Largest Louisiana health system fines employees with unvaccinated spouses

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,370]

I would serve in the revolution over  this madness

 

 

https://www.foxnews.com/us/louisiana-health-system-fine-employees-spouses-unvaccinated

[laylalex 7,284]

The headline itself was something I recoiled from -- that's pretty ridiculous. But then I saw the fine is actually applicable only where the unvaccinated spouse is using the system's health insurance. Assuming that there are other health insurance options available, the spouse can choose to take their business to a less expensive or less onerous option. So a private system has decided to adjust its rates to adjust for risk, and consumers can choose to accept the rate increase or move their business, which to me seems like... capitalism? 🤷‍♀️

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,370]

47 minutes ago, laylalex said:

The headline itself was something I recoiled from -- that's pretty ridiculous. But then I saw the fine is actually applicable only where the unvaccinated spouse is using the system's health insurance. Assuming that there are other health insurance options available, the spouse can choose to take their business to a less expensive or less onerous option. So a private system has decided to adjust its rates to adjust for risk, and consumers can choose to accept the rate increase or move their business, which to me seems like... capitalism? 🤷‍♀️

To be honest I did not get into the details. That should be part of the headline. Still a bit of a reach.

[LIBrty4all 3,749]

1 hour ago, laylalex said:

The headline itself was something I recoiled from -- that's pretty ridiculous. But then I saw the fine is actually applicable only where the unvaccinated spouse is using the system's health insurance. Assuming that there are other health insurance options available, the spouse can choose to take their business to a less expensive or less onerous option. So a private system has decided to adjust its rates to adjust for risk, and consumers can choose to accept the rate increase or move their business, which to me seems like... capitalism? 🤷‍♀️

Why would you recoil from it?  YOU voted it into existence.

Delta Airlines is charging their employees who are not vaxxed $200 a month more than. vaccinated employees.  Why is THAT?

 

Why aren't we discriminating against obese employees?  Or those who smoke cancer sticks?  Or those with HIV?  Or Hepatitis?  Why only those who choose medical freedom over tyranny?

[laylalex 7,284]

I... sorry, trying to unpack this all. I don't have a vote in how a private employer operates its business. Ultimately, this is risk management. If workers do not like the terms of their employment, they are free to find another job. Apparently there are so many jobs out there that can't be filled that businesses are closing. I know where I am working there have been problems in recruitment, and these are well-paid positions.

 

The difference between the conditions and health choices (HIV and hepatitis are not always from "bad choices," you know) you mention are they do not pose a direct medical threat to others by simply moving about in society as we would like to. If I sit at close quarters for a half an hour with an obese person, I will not catch fatness from them. If I kiss a person who has recently smoked a cigarette (and I used to, until he quit during the pandemic), it's gross, but I'm not going to get emphysema. Hepatitis isn't airborne, nor is HIV.  What it comes down to is: is the health choice going to affect only one person, or will the choice affect many?

 

COVID-19, particularly the Delta variant, is easily transmissible. Most -- by FAR most -- medical practitioners understand the vaccines to be a frontline method to control the spread of the virus. Workers who are unvaccinated are at greater risk of developing serious illness than those who are vaccinated, which leads to companies and insurers having to pay more for the accompanying treatment for serious illness over potentially longer periods of time.

 

The decisions these companies are making are to protect their bottom line, which is... sort of how capitalism works. Some may cloak the decisions in the language of morality but ultimately it's about money getting shoved in the pockets of owners and investors. Being seen to be "doing the right thing" is a fantastic misdirect from owners keeping profits up. Most workers are seen as fungible, when it comes down to it, and no one owes anyone else a job.

 

But apparently I am hiding my head in the sand by taking a capitalist position here. Oh well.

 

[LIBrty4all 3,749]

So what?  Your chance of dying from covid isn't much higher than HIV or second-hand smoke.  0.054% at last count.  You'd best get used to living with covid, it was engineered to live forever.  And I for one believe it will.

 

Also, covid isn't spread by bad choices.  Pretty poor choice of words above if you were trying to make some sort of point.  I'm sure the millions who have died from it, some thru no choice of their own, wouldn't see the humor in your quip.

Edited October 3, 2021 by LIBrty4all

[laylalex 7,284]

As the sister of someone who continues to struggle with long COVID nine months after she had the virus, you overlook the damage that the virus causes beyond death. Before she caught it, she was in fantastic health, very slim, no drugs or tobacco, just the occasional drink. She exercised and didn't make very many "bad choices" and yet still she got sick. So did her fiance. He is older, a little pudgy, and has type II diabetes. Guess who sprang back from COVID within a couple of months? 

 

I sincerely hope you never have to see what this virus does to people in the long term. Death is not the only damage it brings. Hearing you say "so what?" is quite honestly an insult.

[LIBrty4all 3,749]

Just now, laylalex said:

As the sister of someone who continues to struggle with long COVID nine months after she had the virus, you overlook the damage that the virus causes beyond death. Before she caught it, she was in fantastic health, very slim, no drugs or tobacco, just the occasional drink. She exercised and didn't make very many "bad choices" and yet still she got sick. So did her fiance. He is older, a little pudgy, and has type II diabetes. Guess who sprang back from COVID within a couple of months? 

 

I sincerely hope you never have to see what this virus does to people in the long term. Death is not the only damage it brings. Hearing you say "so what?" is quite honestly an insult.

It's not an insult, it's simply the way life works.  This virus isn't any  worse than 100 other physical ailments that thousands die from daily, so please don't try to pretend it is.

 

This affects you directly, and so it has obvious meaning.  But what about the millions upon millions of people who suffer from other health concerns every year since you've been alive?  All the HIV deaths in 2018... did you spend more than 30 seconds contemplating them?  What about the 800,000 heart deaths in 2017?  

Of course it strikes home hardest when it's your own family or friends.  And... that's just part of life.  One of my best friends is about to lose a sister in a couple of days.  Not due to covid, just a little ole thing called unexplained seizures.  Not covid.   Not HIV.  In no way unhealthy... she just started seizing for unknown reasons.  Yes, it sucks.  But again, it's just part of life.

Sorry for your personal struggle.  You are not alone.

[LIBrty4all 3,749]

My friends who support two barely-functioning autistic kids, and will for the next 40+ years, aren't really focused on vaccine mandates, politics, nor third world problems, either.  And their's is a MISERABLE existence, has been for many years now.