While employers and observers are mulling over increasing the cost of health insurance for those who have not gotten the COVID-19 vaccine, some argue those proposals could jeopardize crucial healthcare reform. 

Writer and researcher Natalie Shure said in an Aug. 16 piece for The New Republic that proposed price hikes tied to the unvaccinated is a dangerous path, as health is often “socially produced.” 

Ms. Shure argues that the mentality underwriting the trend is, “Why should we all pay for someone else’s reckless choices?”

When the Affordable Care Act allowed insurers to upcharge members who smoke, Ms. Shure wrote that instead of reducing smoking, it increased uninsured rates. Smokers are also more likely to be poor and suffer from health conditions, so the move severed ties between the newly uninsured and providers.

In the same vein, Ms. Shure said she fears that current discourse about vaccination could lead the unvaccinated — who are also disproportionately poor and uninsured — to have decreased access to healthcare. 

Ultimately, Ms. Shure said that the mentality reopens the “individual responsibility” mentality that is a slippery slope to undoing ACA protections for Americans.

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Originally Appeared Here