Thinking a new thread would be good to discuss.
It’s going to be interesting…
Good for Biden.
I would have considered a carve out for a lab confirmed PCR test.
The unvaccinated otherwise keep causing problems for the rest of society. That needs to stop.
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My concern is, if it’s held up in court, what precedent does this set for the next Republican president?
It seems to say executive order can mandate healthcare treatments. Feels like a Pandora’s box situation.
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Is the republican president watching ICUs fill up over a mostly preventable disease and having the unselfish people dying of things they could have been treated for?
That’s where we are right with our freedom.
And kids getting sick and missing school or worse.
Biden made the right call. It will piss off some people and we will need to deal with those consequences. Those are uncertain. We know disease and death is the alternative.
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For most employers there is a test opt out. You can test weekly if not vaccinated. This does not apply to federal employees tho. And employees may have to pay for the tests.
Why should they need to do that if they are a similar risk as the vaccinated?
I’m pretty sure that getting a covid test is free. Is that changing?
SCOTUS has held that a goverment entity can require vaccination for infectious diseases as a condition of employment or enrollment into an educational institution, but that falls under a promoting “good public health” trigger. [Could government order no vaccinations as part of promoting a “bad public health” trigger?] SCOTUS has also held that employers cannot be compelled to cover certain healthcare procedures [the “religious freedom” carve-out].
IANAL (I just played one on TV some 25 years ago), so I don’t know if SCOTUS has ever explicitly ruled that government can compel individuals to undertake various healthcare procedures. Some of those could be argued under 1A grounds [it’s against my religious beliefs to make me do ______] but that also relies on the conservative SCOTUS majority to realize that argument also applies to those not in the far-conservative religious right.
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I’ve been lucky enough not to need a Covid test for 11 months. But my insurance co was billed around $120 for my last test. I know there are places where I could get a free test, but those have lines that take hours and would not be workable for weekly testing.
Ah yeah I guess my insurance company was billed and that’s likely why I didn’t have to wait.
When I got a test last week the lady at Walgreens didn’t even take down my insurance info. She said the govt was going to cover it.
I had symptoms though - not a doctor referral, but they asked what my symptoms were when I signed up for the appointment. I assume it would be different for “I have to get a weekly test for my job”.
I don’t know the rules. We had to get tested in July to go to Hawaii, and we just drove through at Walgreen’s, and they didn’t ask for any insurance info either. And there was no OOP cost for us. We weren’t symptomatic (and yes, we all tested negative)… though they may have told a different story when billing the govt or whatever. No idea.
I dont know that it would be different if you had to get a weekly test tor your job. A lot of people had to do that prior to vaccines.
I am quite happy with this move by Biden.
I believe this is truly a workplace safety issue.
My anecdotal experience:
My wife works in construction, with 90% of her time spent in the office and the rest at jobsites.
Her company has only required masks when mandated by the state, and has very low vaccination and nearly non-existent voluntary masking within the office.
She does not have an option to WFH.
When MN had a mask mandate, the company complied.
They have had multiple occurrences of covid outbreaks in the office and on jobsites since the mask mandate was lifted this spring, always associated with un-vaccinated employees. Recently, one of the owners had covid exposure and symptoms, but continued to come to the office (unmasked) until his symptoms worsened and was asked to stay home by one of the other owners.
I am not sure how this is not a workplace safety issue at this point.
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I could definitely see “vaccinate or mask” being a workplace safety thing.
But the testing seems so onerous that I’m basically viewing this as “vaccinate”. That seems a little more like overreach.
I suppose that keeping track of everyone’s vaccination status to enforce masking requirements is onerous though.
The Libertarian in me doesn’t like this, even though I am very pro-vaccine.
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I have mixed feelings. Delta has been a shitshow and I’m not keen to leave the space for a worse variant take over. That being said, there should be some space for valid exemptions, which maybe should be testing and N95 masking, which also leads to the question of who pays for it. Maybe if a valid exemption (medical or legitimate religious) then the company pays, but if for “personal beliefs” then the employee is on the hook. I’m still thinking this one over.
Since I am permanent WFH but my employer has more than 100 employees, what am I going to be required to do?
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I believe that many/most insurance companies are carving our surveillance testing from being covered at 100%. I am not sure how they identify a surveillance test from a “medical necessary” test.
When I was recently tested at MSP, they asked if I had been “exposed” as one of the many questions that appeared to be asking “why are you taking this test.”
I see that possibly being used to determine medical necessity."
Of course, people will just lie on those questions I’d this becomes the case.