Will unvaxxed New Jersey workers have to pay more for insurance? (Opinion)

Vaccine pushers across the country have been doing everything in their power to try to convince people to get the vaccine. I’m still not sure why if you get three shots to feel protected, you need me to get one, but nevertheless, the squeeze is on.

First, making it harder for you to travel freely, making it harder for you to eat out in restaurants, making it harder for your kids to attend school, and now since they haven’t squeezed hard enough, the threat of charging you more for your health insurance at work if you don’t roll up your sleeves and get jabbed.

According to a press release from PCS Advisors, a healthcare benefits consulting firm in California, companies that do not want to require the vaccine for employees, presumably worried that they will lose many of them or that they could be liable for an adverse effect from the shot, have now turned what began as strong encouragement into a more forceful effort by considering upping healthcare premiums.

This would penalize employees who refuse to get vaccinated by increasing their healthcare costs by perhaps a couple of hundred dollars a month. And yes, it’s legal.

Delta Airlines has already begun charging employees $200 a month more for their health care insurance if they refuse to get vaccinated.

Peter Seegert of PC3 said that employers are already asking if they can legally refuse to cover COVID-19 treatment or testing for employees who refuse to get jabbed. They also ask if they can kick non-compliant employees off of their healthcare benefits programs entirely.

The good news is that it can be a little tricky; The Americans With Disabilities Act does set very strict rules on how much reward or punishment a company can dole out in terms of healthcare benefits. But, I would consider this an idea that is coming to an employer near you in New Jersey.

They’ve run out of other ideas. And I guess we can at least be thankful that, so far.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco. Any opinions expressed are Judi Franco’s own.