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.

Topics California Claims Workers' Compensation COVID-19