Long-winded claims about COVID still plague California’s workers’ compensation system, report finds

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

This is from a report by the California Workers’ Compensation Insurance Review Bureau.

The WCIRB report finds that long-term Covid is still widespread, with about 30% of adults in California reporting activity limitations due to long-term COVID, and there is an even higher prevalence in the healthcare, manufacturing and retail industries.

The report’s findings include:

• It has been estimated that more than one in seven medical payment COVID-19 claims filed between April 2020 and July 2021 involve long-term COVID in the 30-month post-acute period.
• It has been estimated that 5% of all COVID-19 claims filed between April 2020 and July 2021, including compensation claims, involve long-term COVID.
• About 40% of COVID-19 claims involving hospitalization were estimated to involve long-term COVID over a 30-month post-acute period.
• Long-term claims due to COVID-19 incurred higher compensation and medical losses than other COVID-19 claims, mainly due to a higher share of permanent disability claims.

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

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

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