Introduction
As of July 2022, the United States has nearly 50 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections, with more than 1 million deaths. While there is no standardized or universal definition of long COVID, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention characterizes it as “an umbrella term for the wide range of health consequences that are present four or more weeks after infection with SARS-CoV-2.” In October 2021, Dr. Michael Choo of Paradigm, in conjunction with NCCI, published the first of this two-part research regarding long COVID “COVID-19 and The New Reality—Prolonged COVID,” which outlined the potential disability implications of long COVID on the WC industry. This report follows up on “COVID-19 and The New Reality—Prolonged COVID” and reports on preliminary trends and potential impacts of long COVID in WC from the perspective of both medical and indemnity costs.
Key Findings
- The percentage of COVID claims with long COVID in WC was 24%
- Twenty percent (20%) of nonhospitalized and 47% of hospitalized COVID-19 WC patients developed long COVID
- The average temporary disability indemnity benefit duration for long COVID patients was about 160 days for hospitalized patients and 95 days for nonhospitalized patients
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