January 26, 2023 – One of the biggest staff’ compensation insurers in New York State reports paying a median of $17,400 in lost wages and medical expenses per one who met the Long COVID criteria.
The dollar amounts are only a part of an emerging picture of the disease's impact not only on patients but in addition on their employers and the labor market as an entire.
In a new report In a study published by the New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF), the organization called COVID-19 “an underappreciated reason for the high number of job vacancies and declining labor force participation rates since the pandemic began.”
In total, the insurer says it has taken on claims from 977 people because of Long Covid, 18 percent of whom were unable to work for greater than a 12 months. Most were younger than 60 years old.
“That’s a pretty conservative estimate,” said the organization’s executive director and CEO, Gaurav Vasisht, JD The New York Times. “It doesn't capture people who may have gone back to work, may not have sought medical care and may still be suffering, so they're just hanging on.”
The challenges of Long COVID transcend medical symptoms or dollar amounts, he said.
“The longer you are unable to work, the more difficult it is to return to work. This can stigmatize patients,” said Vasisht. “It can have a major impact on their family and work life.”
The evaluation included claims data from January 1, 2020 to March 31, 2022.
The report is the primary in a series by NYSIF.
The data on the applications are being compiled “to improve researchers' and policymakers' understanding of this complex condition,” the report said. “We hope the information will help experts consider possible policy solutions to help Covid survivors manage and cope with long-term symptoms.”