How To Effectively Protest a Health Insurance "Vaccine Surcharge"

Sorry to have taken so long to post to this. I’ve been busy with work the last couple of days.

When did the surcharge start?

Does the surcharge only apply to people who did not get any of the first Covid vaxseems? - That is, to people who were not “fully vaccinated” in the first round of vaxseems?

Are people at your husband’s company who took the first round but took no boosters charged the surcharge?

Same question for people who took the first round, the first booster, but no further boosters.

Point being, people who aren’t keeping up with the boosters can’t be said to be “fully vaccinated.” So if they aren’t charged a surcharge, but your husband is, then there’s a problem.

(Note- no one is really vaccinated against Covid, but that’s another issue.)

If so, what good does getting those vaxseems do if they don’t protect against the more recent variants?

Or would he have to get the bivalent booster?

You should make sure you have answers to these questions before going forward with making your case to his insurance company and employer. It makes a difference for your tactics and argument.

I like to call myself as “untainted,” personally.

I get that “pureblood” in the context of Nazis and the vaxeem is entirely two different things, logically-speaking, in that the those who didn’t take the jab are white, black, Asian, Catholic, Jew, Buddhist, Mexican, Thai, etc., the whole gamut, albeit higher concentrations of some groups are unjabbed. So there’s no ethnic or racial thing like the Nazis had going on.

Also, except for children, one makes a choice with the jab to make their blood “unpure.” It started in a pure state before the jab.

But the “pure” vs. “unpure” thing sort of has a connotation of superiority built into it, which is not helpful in winning converts.

“Tainted” versus “untainted” has more of a connotation of “Hey, a poison is out there in the vaxseem. They lied to you about it. Now you have a problem. Your blood is tainted with it. You should be mad about this and want it fixed and the poisoners brought to justice. Yeah, some people knew enough not to “taint” themselves with it. But we’re all in this together because the “tainters” are out there cooking up ways to get more people tainted.”

Thanks for your thoughtful reply, CheshireTheCat

When did the surcharge start?
*I should clarify, since my original post, above, it is the INSURANCE COMPANY that is making the mandate. This mandate was made in Nov, 2021, as the 2022 enrollment campaign info was disseminated for the year starting Jan 2022.

Does the surcharge only apply to people who did not get any of the first Covid vaxseems? - That is, to people who were not “fully vaccinated” in the first round of vaxseems?
*Unsure, and will get that info....they are VERY slow to respond

Are people at your husband’s company who took the first round but took no boosters charged the surcharge?
*Again, unsure, and will ask the questions you’ve stated and try to get answers!

Same question for people who took the first round, the first booster, but no further boosters.
*As above!

Point being, people who aren’t keeping up with the boosters can’t be said to be “fully vaccinated.” So if they aren’t charged a surcharge, but your husband is, then there’s a problem.

(Note- no one is really vaccinated against Covid, but that’s another issue.)
*Totally agree. If a vaccine worked against a virus, we would have a cure for the common cold and that inventor would be very rich!! It has always been my understanding that “vaccinating” against a virus is pointless and your best defense is a healthy immune system and not living in a “sterile” environment, Like my Mom always said, eating a little dirt is good for you and I’ve eaten my share!!

Hypothetically, if your husband were to get the vaxeem tomorrow to avoid the surcharge (I advise against getting it), would he have to get jabbed with the “original formula,” the version of Moderna or Pfizer that was used back in 2021? Is the issue that he never got that particular set?
*Unsure....will find out. He has not been vaccinated at all and doesn’t intend to. He has had COVID and probably could provide a titer test showing immunity, but not sure if that would be acceptable. I think he posed that question to HR and got a negative response.....in other words, jab or nothing!

If so, what good does getting those vaxseems do if they don’t protect against the more recent variants?
*Exactly!

Or would he have to get the bivalent booster?
* Again, need to get an answer. The entire predicate is ridiciulous. As someone stated above, are they mandating HIV vaccines? And as far as I know flu vaccines are “elective” and COVID is a virus, much like flu...how can they mandate one and not the other?? ALSO, if he (we have been deemed as “insurable” and have been accepted into the “pool” how can they reneg on our insurability over an EUA vaccine?? More and more data has been released which show how harmful this is. Our MD was against it from the very beginning and was very vocal about that. I think he was able to do that relatively safely because he has an independent practice, not connected to any group or hospital organization.

Again, thanks so much and I will gather what I can through correspondence with HR or directly with the insurance company......

No problem.

I realize it is the insurance company that is behind the surcharge, but you are really only in a position to get info about your husband’s company/employer vis-a-vis them insofar as he hypothetically could ask fellow employees if they have to prove booster status to avoid a surcharge.

I suppose theoretically you could find out what other employers use the same insurance company for group health insurance and post on social media questions of their employees or, say, inquire directly from employees if, say, your local grocery store has the same insurance company.

It is possible, I suppose (I really don’t know how insurance law works), that the insurance company is treating employees at different employers differently because the contract they have with different employers is not 100% the same.

Say, for example, the insurance company is contracted with “Acme Trucking,” to provide group health insurance to them. Acme Trucking may have told them to pound sand and that they would go with another insurance company if they tried to charge their employees a surcharge because Acme Trucking knew a lot of their drivers were against the vaxseem and would jump ship and get a job with “Speedy Trucking.”

(Are you sure the insurance company is behind the surcharge and that your husband’s employer didn’t get the insurance company to charge the surcharge in the most recent round of contract negotiations?)

So if you found out that the insurance company is not charging a surcharge of people employed at other places, that’s just another thing to call them on.

Do you live in a red state?

I really don’t understand the part about not charging a surcharge as well for unvaccinated family members on the plan. There are many situations where the employee is 15 years younger than the spouse or the employee is ten years older but has nothing wrong with them and the spouse is diabetic and more at risk from Covid.

This makes me suspect your husband’s employer is pushing the insurance company to charge the surcharge as a way of getting all employees vaxxed so they can advertise and shut up the Karens in the company who don’t want to work in office for fear of getting the ‘rona from an unvaxxed person, or so the Karens claim as a way of not having to go into the office.

“This mandate was made in Nov, 2021, as the 2022 enrollment campaign info was disseminated for the year starting Jan 2022.”

I’m thinking the employer is behind the surcharge and used the insurance company as a proxy to mandate vaccination.

Remember, in late 2021, many companies were facing down Biden’s vaxseem mandate that was due to go into place in early 22.

The first booster was offered in October 2021 to older people and by late November to all adults, if I recall correctly.

So when was renewal and/or open enrollment time for 2023? How many boosters were recommended and available at that point?

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