Employers and their advisors should be proactively addressing how their employee benefit programs can help address long COVID. Here are some ideas and issues to consider.

Employees who have had COVID, or those with close family members who have had the disease, should be encouraged to maintain regular follow-up check ins, either with their primary physician or with a telemedicine service provided by the employer. This can help provide early intervention and treatment if the symptoms begin to appear.
The employer's basic medical plan should cover expenses arising from the syndrome, but the employer and their advisors should make sure they check with insurers of supplemental medical plans, such as hospital indemnity or critical illness coverage, so they know exactly whether and how treatment will be covered.
Likewise, employers need to understand whether and how their disability income protection plans–both short and long-term–will cover (or not cover) loss of work resulting from the syndrome. For example, how are symptoms like fatigue and "brain fog" going to be insured? Are there contractual limitations on self-report, musculoskeletal or mental/nervous benefits? Does the employer want to request plan design changes?
Employers who have employee assistance programs (EAPs) or other mental health-related benefits will want to work with their providers to compile resources to help employees cope with the stress associated with the syndrome. In some cases, direct counseling support can help prevent stress-related losses.
This topic needs to be on the employee benefit planning radar for some time to come, because new details about the syndrome continue to emerge. For example, the Mayo Clinic and Highmark Interactive have a joint project to study and assess the impact of the syndrome on long-term cognitive function. The goal of the study is to generate treatment protocols that can mitigate symptoms.
This is an area where employers should plan an effective, year-round communications campaign to educate employees on their risks and the resources brought to them through employee benefit programs. Helping employees understand their benefits thoroughly has never been as important as it is today.
Finally, if the syndrome becomes more prevalent than currently anticipated, there could be pricing invocations on nearly every type of employee benefit insurance.

We should encourage our employer customers to start considering these issues. As Egleston noted, the changes COVID has brought to our industry are persistent and "things will never be the same." The long-term effects of the pandemic are going to continue affecting benefits planning in new ways for years to come.

Instant Insights /

The long reach of COVID

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