Geauga County health commissioner fired after suggesting insurance shouldn’t cover unvaccinated coronavirus patients

Coronavirus

FILE- A health care worker fills a syringe with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, Thursday, July 22, 2021, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Geauga County Health Commissioner Tom Quade was fired this week amid an outcry over his social-media comment that health insurance companies should not cover coronavirus treatment costs for the unvaccinated. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)AP

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COLUMBUS, Ohio—Geauga County’s public health commissioner has been fired after he posted on Facebook that insurance companies should not pay for coronavirus treatment for people who aren’t vaccinated.

Tom Quade, a past president of the American Public Health Association and the Ohio Public Health Association, apologized for the remark -- which he later deleted -- during a lengthy meeting of the Geauga County Board of Health on Wednesday. “This was a mistake I own, and while I cannot alter the past, I assure you it will not be repeated moving forward,” he said during the meeting, a video of which was posted online by the Geauga County Maple Leaf.

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