Anti-vaxxers should be charged premiums for health care insurance
By Lethbridge Herald on July 1, 2025.
Editor,
An open letter to Danielle Smith:
I am not going to disagree with your decision to charge for certain vaccines but I have a better idea.
Treat vaccines like automobile insurance. You have the choice not to carry collision insurance on your car (unless financed). You back into a fire hydrant and do not have insurance so you are responsible for all damages. Your friend paid for collision insurance and had the same accident so his insurance company paid the bills.
Do the same with all vaccines. If you have bought insurance (the vaccine) and get ill from the disease you were infected with, your doctor bills and all other medical expenses are covered because you bought insurance (the vaccine).Â
Now if you refused to pay for the insurance (the vaccine) you are responsible for “all” medical expenses related to the disease. Very simple. Pay now or pay later.Â
This seems only fair because I am getting tired of hearing how measles infections are on the rise and the “group(s)” that don’t believe in vaccines are wandering around infecting any people that come in contact with them. They don’t give a damn about anyone else but their right to refuse vaccines. Â
I know for a fact they have gone to a doctor or we wouldn\’t know how many have measles.Â
Bottom line – I will buy a vaccine for the flu, COVID, etc. but there is no way in hell the vaccine deniers should be able to get health coverage for something that could have been prevented or have less severity.
Think about it. It would free up doctor visits or make some money for the doctors.
Reed Spencer
Lethbridge
13-12
Yeah …. it won’t happen .. but I throughly enjoyed reading this and can’t fault the logic …
here is some more “logic.” if you hurt yourself playing sports, doing anything higher risk than the basic movements of contemporary life, you pay. got lost/stranded hiking in the back country – you pay. hurt yourself rock climbing, you pay. fall off your bike, you pay.
health issue from consuming added sugar, you pay; health because you don’t exercise and/or have a bad diet, you pay.
indeed, let us use the health system to set, apply, enforce, control how we all live.
and, for writer, and like-minded, how does one justify torturing sentient life for stuff?
How about adverse reaction/ death from vaccine? Who pays?
Adverse reaction or death from vaccine are about the same of chances are about the same of an asteroid hitting your desk in the next 100000 years.We gamble getting up in the morning.
Not expecting a reply , since you still haven’t answered any of my rebuttals – maybe this time?
Typically you do reference some , very few who have severe reactions. Likely these people were allergic to the vaccine constituents and should have indicated that fact to the vaccinator. You do of course fail to mention the cost of multiple ICU admissions , emergency visits, deaths for those experiencing acute reactions to the virus – far more than adverse vaccination reactions. Plus, you have never acknowledged the so called “herd immunity” conveyed by highly vaccinated populations. But that would actually require a little more reading rather than spurious and sensational sources.
Over to you OS.
I get your tongue was firmly planted against your cheek , however your sarcasm is interesting.
Today , under certain circumstances, backcountry rescues leave the rescued with a bill. And rightfully so for gross negligence .
Should a beer league hockey player pay out of pocket for an injury … no , what about the elite athlete that needs expensive extraordinary surgery? Maybe they do pay out of pocket , I don’t know, but perhaps that shouldn’t come out of the public system?
Penalty’s for bad lifestyle choices that strain public health care is something that shouldn’t be completely out of the discussion . Smokers pay more for life insurance. Should poor diet be a trigger for higher healthcare costs ??
We don’t (but maybe should) live in a world of accountability for our choices.
Wonder how many negs I’ll gather .
accountability is of course necessary. and, i see it that we have plenty of accountability, save for those that have control over our governance and the usual privileged people and entities. my concern is the use of public health care as a means to coerce. trying to measure and weigh the choices we all have a right to with regard to one’s body and mind – but also foremost respecting the rights of others – is far too bureaucratic and complicated. our healthcare system is hardly undermined by those making “risky” choices that affect themselves (notwithstanding that they may require healthcare). healthcare is most entirely undermined by the usual that undermines us all: graft, corruption, negligence, nepotism, waste, self service, rogue capitalism, lack of oversight and prosecution of the sleazes.
furthermore, the serial torture of sentient life to produce products must end. no one should be forced to use anything they do not wish, let alone when it disgusts one to the core.
I guess Alberta, and thus, all of us taxpayers, has/have plenty of money to spare, since money talks, for acute hospital care costs for illnesses that could have been prevented by vaccination.
With Alberta now having the highest number of measles cases in North America it proves just how stupid Albertans are doesn’t it. With Danielle Smith comparing people to Nazis for daring to get vaccinated against COVID and these mindless Albertans believing every lie she spreads it’s no surprise they haven’t bothered to get their children vaccinated is it?