Never has the phrase, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” ever been more apt. Never.

In the fight against COVID-19, we have a safe, easy and effective means of prevention: the vaccine. That free shot certainly beats the alternative: a higher risk of the disease taking hold — damaging lungs and organs, and at its worse, causing death — plus the expensive care needed to overcome the coronavirus.

Much has been written about the harrowing tales of survival, some requiring many weeks on breathing tubes. But survival comes at a steep price, and more must be realized about costly COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Listen to Oahu resident Aaron Mikami, in his mid-30s, who spoke to reporters earlier this year about his COVID-19 ordeal, which left him in a three-day coma and hospitalized for two weeks. “It was a little over $200,000,” he told KHON-2 News about that medical bill — which didn’t even include post-hospital recovery and therapy.

Luckily for Mikami and the many other survivors here, out-of-pocket medical expenses related to COVID-19 are being waived during this public-health emergency. Still, wellness is hitting wallets — and someone’s got to pay for all this expensive medical intervention. Covering prolonged COVID-19 care means more costs borne by everyone.

Hospitals billed private insurers an average of $317,810 for a complex COVID-19 hospitalization, according to recent data from FAIR Health, a nonprofit tracking national care costs. Insurers paid out an average $98,139 on those claims, which involved intense care such as ICU stays or ventilator use, the organization said last month. Meanwhile, less-serious hospitalizations for COVID-19 averaged $74,591 in charges, and $33,525 in insurer payouts, noted FAIR Health.

Those findings reveal the stunning level of care needed per severely ill COVID-19 patient. Further compounding concern over costly COVID-19 care: Another report last month estimated that vaccinations could have prevented some 287,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations from June through August. That would have saved some $5 billion in health care costs, the Peterson Center-Kaiser Family Foundation report found — and even that figure is now considered low, as it was based on a conservative $20,000 average per hospitalization.

COVID-19 hospitalizations are devastating for patients, their families and health care workers, many of whom are burning out from dealing with such an intense yet preventable disease. Further, such care is costing society via taxpayer-funded public insurance programs, as well as workers and businesses paying health insurance premiums.

Increasingly, the intensive hospitalizations that come with severe COVID-19 are putting pressure on companies and insurers to cover costs. Delta Airlines, for example, is adding an extra $200 monthly to health insurance for its unvaccinated staffers, effective Nov. 1. And more health insurers nationwide are easing away from covering all or most COVID-related health costs, a norm that had been in place during the past 18 months of pandemic.

Fortunately for residents here, at least for now, Hawaii’s largest medical insurers still see value in keeping payment waivers in place until the public health emergency ends: both Kaiser Permanente Hawaii and HMSA affirmed they are continuing to waive patients’ copay share for COVID-19 treatment and care.

And for now, said HMSA CEO Mark Mugiishi, his organization is not raising premiums to do this, and “will take copayments out of our reserves.”

As the delta variant continues swirling among us, stay masked in public and do not underestimate the damage that COVID-19 can do to you, or your loved ones. And consider this choice: A weekslong, $317,810 battle in the hospital against severe COVID-19 — or a quick, free and effective shot in the arm? So much undue pain and expense could be prevented, by less than an ounce of vaccine.