A surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations among unvaccinated adults has cost the U.S. health system $5.7 billion from June to August of this year, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis.
For the analysis, Kaiser Family Foundation analyzed CDC data on hospitalizations of adults with COVID-19 because many children still are ineligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Kaiser Family Foundation found that there were about 32,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations among unvaccinated U.S. adults in June, 68,000 in July and 187,000 in August.
With COVID-19 hospitalizations costing on average an estimated $20,000 each, Kaiser Family Foundation said these hospitalizations have cost the U.S. health system billions of dollars since the beginning of June and largely were preventable by vaccination.
"The monetary cost of treating unvaccinated people for COVID-19 is borne not only by patients but also by society more broadly, including taxpayer-funded public programs and private insurance premiums paid by workers, businesses, and individual purchasers," Kaiser Family Foundation wrote.
During the study period of June 1 to Aug. 31, the CDC reported 7,617 vaccinated patients who had breakthrough infections and were hospitalized.