Robert Benjamin Savary of New Jersey is a registered financial representative who assists clients in purchasing life, long-term care and disability insurance. In the following article, Robert Savary explains disability insurance as it relates to long-term Covid, as well as the benefits of disability insurance for those suffering from the diagnosis.
Even after suffering from COVID-19 and experiencing initial recovery, the battle is not over for many victims. Instead, reoccurring or ongoing health problems may prompt the question: what types of disability insurance policies are available to those experiencing long-term Covid?
According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, prolonged Covid can be considered a disability under Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 1157 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation of 1973.
Explained during COVID
Robert Benjamin Savary of New Jersey explains that Long COVID is described by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the long-term effects that people who have been infected with the COVID-19 virus may experience even after recovery.
People with this condition, also known as “long-haul,” can experience a variety of symptoms that affect daily life. These symptoms include:
- Brain fog, or the inability to concentrate
- Fatigue and fatigue
- Shortness of breath
- General difficulty in breathing
- Dizziness when standing
- Headache or migraine
- Chest pain
- Joint pains
- Lack of ability to taste or smell
- Heart palpitations
- Organ damage
- cough
Although this list details some of the physical suffering that long-term Covid sufferers may experience, it does not take into account the emotional and mental toll that a prolonged period of health problems can cause. These include anxiety and depression according to Robert Benjamin Savary of New Jersey.
Because this condition can affect former COVID-19 sufferers so persistently, it interferes with daily activities. With that in mind, Long COVID may qualify for some disability insurance benefits.
Long term covid is considered a disability
Long-standing Covid can be specifically treated as a disability under the definitions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 and Section 1557, because it limits more than one major life activity according to Robert Benjamin Savary.
The laws specifically define a person with a disability as someone who has something physical or mental that interferes with their major life activities, or someone who has a record of this health impairment.
Robert Savary of New Jersey explains that some people with Long Covid have heart, lung, kidney and neurological damage, and may have experienced emotional and mental illness, they may not be able to perform major life activities.
A major life activity can cover a wide range of what a person usually does during the day. Some of these activities involve things we don’t even think about, but in which we constantly participate: sitting, standing, thinking, writing, breathing, and talking to others.
For example, if someone experiences shortness of breath due to prolonged Covid, they may not be able to breathe properly or talk to others with any kind of ease. Therefore, they count as a person with a disability under the ADA’s definitions, says Robert Benjamin Savary of New Jersey.
Long term insurance for COVID and disability
Robert Benjamin Savary explains that the ADA works to provide protections for people with disabilities, keeping them from being discriminated against or kept from the events of civic and commercial life.
Therefore, some rules at the state level can be changed so that those with long-term Covid can reasonably enjoy some aspects of society in light of their health problems.
For example, if someone has long-standing Covid, they may be allowed to pass more on a test than students who don’t have long-standing Covid and therefore don’t suffer from symptoms of brain fog, says Robert Benjamin Savary of New Jersey .
Another example is local businesses, such as grocery stores or shopping malls, allowing a service animal into the establishment so that someone with prolonged Covid can be helped to stand despite symptoms of dizziness.
Long-term COVID disability outside the United States
Although the United States offers some insurance assistance to those disabled by lingering COVID symptoms, other nations are not always helped in the same way, reports Robert Benjamin Savary of New Jersey.
The Guardian reports that some healthcare workers in the UK are not receiving PIP benefits (A benefit system that helps those who have to pay for extra living facilities due to disability) despite suffering from long-term symptoms of COVID.
The Guardian also reported that the process to qualify for these benefits is flawed and the outcome of trying to qualify is considered unfair by many in the UK.
At the end
COVID-19 affected the world and continues to affect those with COVID-19 through health damage. These impairments may be considered disabilities if they affect major life events. The wide spectrum of symptoms experienced by those with long-term Covid means that, at least in the United States, their condition affects their lives and is therefore considered a disability, reports Robert Benjamin Savary of New Jersey.
Insurance policies mandated by the ADA provide support for people with disabilities from Long COVID, but in other countries, support is still needed to help those left shocked by contracting the virus around the world.