The widespread fear over COVID-19 during the height of the coronavirus pandemic might have been gone. However, for thousands of Americans suffering from a condition called long COVID, their situation has left them not only with debilitating physical health but also struggling financial health. This was the conclusion from a study by University of Georgia researchers Biplab Kumar Datta, Ishtiaque Fazlul, and M. Mahmud Khan.
Study: The Personal Financial Impact of Long Covid in the United States
Long COVID Background
The World Health Organization defines long COVID as starting three months after the initial COVID-19 infection. However, other institutions, such as the United Kingdom National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, define it as starting four weeks after the initial infection. The condition is generally defined as a group of health problems persisting or developing after an initial period of infection and subsequent disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Symptoms are wide-ranging and can differ from person to person. Some experience symptoms that disappear and then reappear. The most commonly reported and documented ones include fatigue, memory problems, shortness of breath, and sleep disorders. Others suffer from headaches, mental health issues, loss of smell or taste, muscle weakness, fever, and cognitive dysfunction. Some noted that their symptoms would get worse after mental or physical effort.
The causes of long COVID remain unclear. Researchers have put forward several hypotheses. These lasting damage to organs and blood vessels, blood clotting issues, neurological dysfunction, persistency of the SARS-COV-2 virus or its reactivation as a latent virus, and the development of autoimmune diseases. Diagnosis of long COVID is generally based on suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection history after ruling out other alternative diagnoses.
Personal Financial Impact
Researchers B. K Datta, I. Fazlul, and M. M. Khan investigated the economic impact of long COVID with a special focus on estimating its average marginal effect on financial hardships like food insecurity, difficulty paying bills, or threats of losing essential services across different groups. They used logistic regression models and mediation analysis on a large dataset from the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System that represented 271,076 adults to determine how these hardships varied across different income and education levels.
Findings showed that the health condition is making it harder for people to pay their bills, buy groceries, and keep their utilities on. The study also suggests that much of the financial hardships come from loss of employment and reduced working hours. Medication analysis indicated that employment disruption explains between 6 percent and 20 percent of the observed financial stress. Further findings also suggest that negative effects of long COVID on the financial wellness and security of affected Americans are present regardless of socioeconomic status.
The study also noted that the financial impact of the condition is worse on individuals with lower incomes. For example, for affected people in the lowest income bracket, long COVID increased the likelihood of food insecurity by 10 percentage points. They also were at higher risk of losing important utility services due to not being able to pay their bills. This could stem from the fact that lower-income groups have fewer savings and less to fall back on if something disrupts their ability to earn. They also tend to have more hands-on and site-based jobs.
Specific Policy Implications
Close to 18 million Americans are living and struggling with long COVID according to B. K Datta and his colleagues. It is also worth noting that a 2023 study by Daniel M. Altmann et al. noted that there is an assumption that at least 10 percent of those who had COVID across the world are also living with long COVID. This figure means that about 400 million individuals could be affected globally and would need access to available healthcare and economic support.
B. K. Datta and his colleagues also championed remote work or work-from-home policies to help long COVID sufferers keep their livelihoods and health insurance coverage. Promoting security of tenure at work or bolstering employment security protection through legislation and increasing access to credit and other financial assistance programs like insurance coverages are other recommended options to increase the financial stability of affected individuals.
Insights into the financial burden of long COVID can be gained by examining the experiences of patients with other costly diseases like cancer. For example, to address the financial burden of cancer, researchers C. K. Cheung et al. developed a patient navigation pathway. It is a structured system designed to help patients manage financial challenges. It includes financial counseling, coordination of resources, and assistance with navigating the insurance system.
FURTHER READINGS AND REFERENCES
- Altmann, D. M., Whettlock, E. M., Liu, S., Arachchillage, D. J., and Boyton, R. J. 2023. “The Immunology of Long COVID. Nature Reviews Immunology. 23(10): 697. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. DOI: 1038/s41577-023-00948-9
- Cheung, C., Jones, L., Lee, H., Bridges, J., Seeley, R., Vyfhuis, M., Gianelle, M., Thomas, B., Betz, G., Waldo, L., Hirsch, A., and Ntiri, S. 2023. “Anticipatory Guidance: Developing a Patient Navigation Pathway to Reduce the Financial Toxicity of Cancer.” Medical Research Archives. 11(10). Knowledge Enterprise Journals. DOI: 18103/mra.v11i10.4582
- Datta, B. K., Fazlul, I., and Khan, M. M. 2024. Long COVID and Financial Hardship: A Disaggregated Analysis at Income and Education Levels. Health Services Research. Wiley. DOI: 1111/1475-6773.14413