Evered Jane A, LaJeunesse Alessandra, Wynn Madison, Mrig Emily, Schlesinger Mark, Grob Rachel
Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States.
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, USA.
Chronic Illn. 2023 Oct 30:17423953231210117. doi: 10.1177/17423953231210117.
The COVID-19 pandemic has left many suffering from long COVID, an episodic and debilitating chronic condition affecting people's ability to work and manage medical expenses. Though the Biden Administration has committed to conducting research and building support programs to alleviate the strain on those affected, in practice, static eligibility criteria for unemployment and disability benefits, patchy insurance coverage, and insufficient paid leave programs have left many people vulnerable. Given the magnitude of long COVID and the dearth to date of large-scale studies about its financial consequences, a focused qualitative analysis of lived experiences is warranted to understand and highlight gaps in the policy landscape.
We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews from 2020 to 2022 with 25 people with experience of long COVID living predominately in the Midwest.
Our inductive analysis revealed ways people became financially exhausted by uncertain medical care costs and precarious employment that left them trying, often alone, to access benefits. People described both experiences with workplace benefits and attempts to access federal benefits to address unstable employment situations created by protracted and uncertain functional impairments.
We explore pre- and post-pandemic era unemployment, disability, and insurance policies and offer recommendations for better supporting people with long COVID.
新冠疫情使许多人患上了长期新冠后遗症，这是一种偶发性的、使人衰弱的慢性病，影响着人们的工作能力和医疗费用负担能力。尽管拜登政府已承诺开展研究并建立支持项目，以减轻对受影响者的压力，但实际上，失业保险和残疾福利的静态资格标准、零散的保险覆盖范围以及带薪休假项目的不足，使许多人处于脆弱境地。鉴于长期新冠后遗症问题的严重性以及迄今为止关于其财务后果的大规模研究的匮乏，有必要进行有针对性的定性分析，以了解和突出政策领域的差距。
我们在2020年至2022年期间，对25名主要居住在中西部地区且有长期新冠后遗症经历的人进行了深入的半结构化访谈。
我们的归纳分析揭示了人们因不确定的医疗费用和不稳定的就业而在经济上陷入困境的方式，并使他们常常只能独自努力获取福利。人们描述了在工作场所福利方面的经历，以及为应对因长期和不确定的功能障碍而导致的不稳定就业状况，试图获取联邦福利方面的经历。
我们探讨了疫情前后的失业、残疾和保险政策，并就更好地支持长期新冠后遗症患者提出了建议。
