Long COVID Claims Still Impact California’s Workers Comp System, Report Shows

The impact and surge of long-term COVID on the California workers’ compensation system since 2020 has been prevalent, including long-term impacts on disability and long-term patterns of medical cost and treatment on long COVID claims.

That’s from a report by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California.

The WCIRB report finds long Covid is still prevalent, with roughly 30% of California adults having reported activity limitations from long COVID, and there is an even higher prevalence in healthcare, manufacturing and retail industries.

The report’s findings include:

• More than one-in-seven COVID-19 claims with medical payments filed between April 2020 and July 2021 were estimated to involve long COVID over a 30-month post-acute care period.
• 5% of all COVID-19 claims filed between April 2020 and July 2021, including indemnity-only claims, were estimated to involve long COVID.
• Roughly 40% of COVID-19 claims involving hospitalization were estimated to involve long COVID over a 30-month post-acute care period.
• Long COVID claims incurred higher indemnity and medical losses than other COVID-19 claims, mostly driven by a higher share of permanent disability claims.

According to the report, long COVID claims compared to other COVID-19 claims have a higher share of indemnity claims and higher average incurred indemnity losses at roughly 30 months after policy inception, driven by a longer average duration (27 weeks) of temporary disability benefits, and a higher share of claims (35 claim average) involving permanent disability benefits.

Long COVID PD claims averaged $79,828 compared with $31,230 for COVID claims, and long COVID TD claims averaged $19,694 compared with $3,711 for COVID claims, the report shows.

Long COVID claims were also more likely to involve litigation and have higher ALAE payments, according to the report.