WEBVTT - COVID Long Haulers Struggle With Getting Disability Benefits

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<v Speaker 1>It's Friday March. I'm Oscar Emiras from the Daily Dive

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<v Speaker 1>podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America for

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<v Speaker 1>many people that have experienced long COVID. They've had to

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<v Speaker 1>deal with not only prolonged symptoms, but the hassle of

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<v Speaker 1>trying to fight for disability benefits. We still understand very

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<v Speaker 1>little about long COVID and how severe the effects are.

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<v Speaker 1>Can be difficult to measure. Ensures demand that there be

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<v Speaker 1>evidence that a person cannot work, and some medical tests

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<v Speaker 1>may not clearly show an impairment, leading to denials of benefits.

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<v Speaker 1>Christopher Roland, business of health reporter at the Washington Post,

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<v Speaker 1>joins us for the fight for disability payments. Thanks for

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<v Speaker 1>joining us, Chris. Let's talk about an interesting angle to

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<v Speaker 1>what's going on here during the pandemic. Obviously, we've got

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of people that experience their COVID infection in

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<v Speaker 1>different ways. One of the more mysterious ones and and

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<v Speaker 1>infections that have you know, this wider ranging effect on

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<v Speaker 1>people is uh, those that are the COVID long haulers,

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<v Speaker 1>so those that get long COVID, and you know it's

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<v Speaker 1>a range of symptoms, the brain fog being extremely tired

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<v Speaker 1>all the time, just not being able to operate completely normal.

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<v Speaker 1>And a lot of these people are you know, trying

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<v Speaker 1>to get a disability payments out of this, uh you know,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe file for short term disability, long term disability in

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<v Speaker 1>some cases, and what they're finding is a really big

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<v Speaker 1>battle with the private insurance companies or the Social Security Administration.

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<v Speaker 1>So Chris tell us a little bit more about what

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<v Speaker 1>these long haulers are facing. So we're talking about a

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<v Speaker 1>category of long haulers. So there's a lot of people

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<v Speaker 1>do get long COVID. It can last for a number

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<v Speaker 1>of weeks or uh, you know, a couple of months

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<v Speaker 1>or even more. And then there's a category that where

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<v Speaker 1>it lasts for quite a prolonged period, uh you know,

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<v Speaker 1>three six months, nine months, and even some people now

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<v Speaker 1>who've been sick for two years, um, and you know,

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<v Speaker 1>they have this terrible fatigue and essentially they can't work.

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<v Speaker 1>There's probably around you know, the estimates are there's maybe

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<v Speaker 1>around a million people like this who have severe long

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<v Speaker 1>COVID who've been sick for a long time and it's

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<v Speaker 1>so debilitating that they can't function at their jobs anymore.

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<v Speaker 1>They can't even barely compose an email. You know, they

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<v Speaker 1>can barely walk around their house, go upstairs without becoming

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<v Speaker 1>extremely fatigued and have you know, rapid heart rate and

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<v Speaker 1>all kinds of serious pain and different problems. Um. But

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<v Speaker 1>the problem with long COVID is that there is not

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<v Speaker 1>any kind of great test uh medical tests to show

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<v Speaker 1>what exactly is going on with your body. So you know,

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<v Speaker 1>e k G s for these folks come back clean

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<v Speaker 1>and normal. Um Uh, cognitive tests do not always show

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<v Speaker 1>any significant decline in brain function. Even those people feel

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<v Speaker 1>confused and exhausted. You can't measure exhaustion for the medical test.

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<v Speaker 1>So when they apply for disability, uh, you know, these

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<v Speaker 1>reviewers are looking at this stuff and they're saying, well,

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<v Speaker 1>these are all really subjective symptoms, denying a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>these people even have notes from their doctors obviously saying

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<v Speaker 1>it would be wise that the person takes time off, etcetera.

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<v Speaker 1>But what a lot of people were saying that. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>these disability evaluations are based on function, not the diagnosis.

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<v Speaker 1>So you can have the diagnosis, you can have the

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<v Speaker 1>letter from your doctor. If the tests aren't bearing it out,

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<v Speaker 1>they're more likely to just reject people. Yeah, and a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of this is the medical system trying to catch up, right, Like,

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<v Speaker 1>so you know there wasn't even a diagnosis code or

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<v Speaker 1>you know that you could enter into computer saying this

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<v Speaker 1>person has a long COVID. You know that wasn't even

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<v Speaker 1>around for a year after the pandemic began. But you're right.

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<v Speaker 1>So even if you get diagnosed and your your physician says, okay,

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<v Speaker 1>this person has a long COVID, you know, um, there's

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<v Speaker 1>a whole other step that needs to take place. The

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<v Speaker 1>physician needs to a test that you're so sick that

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<v Speaker 1>you can't actually work. Um. You know, So for someone

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<v Speaker 1>who has a physical job out outdoors, who has to

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<v Speaker 1>climb ladders and as a roofer or something like that,

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<v Speaker 1>or a painter or you know, has a lot or

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of physical activity outside, you know they might

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<v Speaker 1>have a better shot. But for a lot of office workers, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, white collar workers. Um, I've talked to people

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<v Speaker 1>who are white collar workers who you know used to

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<v Speaker 1>run marathons. I've talked to doctors who what ran marathons

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<v Speaker 1>and they got lawn COVID and you know they were debilitated.

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<v Speaker 1>Took them a long time to get back to work. Sure,

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<v Speaker 1>a few though, it's you know, a variety of symptoms

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<v Speaker 1>and um, it's it's hard to pin down. Share a

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<v Speaker 1>few of the stories that you have people that you

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<v Speaker 1>did speak to you because there were a few that

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<v Speaker 1>you mentioned in the article. Through the help of a lawyer,

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<v Speaker 1>they were able to secure some disability benefits. Others just

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<v Speaker 1>flat out they just kept getting denied and going back

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<v Speaker 1>and forth through appeals process and continually getting denied. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>So you know, I talked to a woman, um in

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<v Speaker 1>Pennsylvania for example, who in and by the way, everyone

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<v Speaker 1>I've written about they were got sick before vaccines were available. Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, I get a lot of feedback on these articles,

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<v Speaker 1>Oh well they should have gotten a vaccine. Uh. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>I I deliberately picked people to pro file uh in

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<v Speaker 1>these stories that um were you know, could not get

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<v Speaker 1>a vaccine before, but when they got long COVID and

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<v Speaker 1>the points still you know how long the difficulty is

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<v Speaker 1>in obtaining these benefits even Yeah, yep. And so this

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<v Speaker 1>woman in Pennsylvania, she was making over a hundred thousand

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<v Speaker 1>dollars a year as a home care nursing supervisor, so

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<v Speaker 1>you know, dispatching nurses out to clients, in their homes

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<v Speaker 1>who you know, need help. Uh, and it's a pretty

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<v Speaker 1>complex job. She had a number of nurses that she

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<v Speaker 1>had to you know, send out all the time, troubleshooting,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, helping manage meds and do all these different

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<v Speaker 1>things very you know, pretty high impact environment. UM, juggling

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of things, multitasking, sending out emails, making calls,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, arranging schedules, keeping track of a number of employees. Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, doing performance reviews. I mean, you know, an

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<v Speaker 1>array of you know, fairly difficult tasks. Thanksgiving twenty, her

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<v Speaker 1>whole family gets COVID. Her dad dies, her mother gets

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<v Speaker 1>long COVID, she gets long COVID, and UM, she has

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<v Speaker 1>remained sick the whole time. So she you know, her

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<v Speaker 1>unemployment ran out. Actually she did qualified for unemployment because

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<v Speaker 1>she was too sick to work. So her extended sickly

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<v Speaker 1>ran out and she um had to quit her job.

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<v Speaker 1>And UH this past year she was applied for Social

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<v Speaker 1>Security disability and after exhaustive medical documentation was denied. She

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<v Speaker 1>actually does have a lawyer working with her to help

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<v Speaker 1>her UM, and a lot of people do that because

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<v Speaker 1>they know they're going to get denied and now she

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<v Speaker 1>has to mount an up keel and so you know,

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<v Speaker 1>not only she exhausted and stressed out and can't you

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<v Speaker 1>can barely walk, you know. Uh, you know, she's been

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<v Speaker 1>doing this bureaucratic battle. Um, so it's very difficult to

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<v Speaker 1>situation then so other people who if you do have

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<v Speaker 1>a lawyer, So some lawyers I talked to have they

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<v Speaker 1>know how to what to help the doctors decide. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>the doctors need to figure out how this is going

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<v Speaker 1>to relate to your inability to work and document that

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<v Speaker 1>very very carefully. A lot of doctors are unfamiliar with

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<v Speaker 1>long COVID. They're also unfamiliar with disability applicate. So, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, depending on what doctor you get where you are,

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<v Speaker 1>if you're not in a big urban center with a

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<v Speaker 1>COVID clinic along COVID clinic, you know, in rural areas

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<v Speaker 1>they don't have long COVID clinics, you're not going to

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<v Speaker 1>find doctors who are even familiar with US. And in

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<v Speaker 1>the absence of those tests that will help bear out

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<v Speaker 1>those diagnosis right there, you know, it's going to be

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<v Speaker 1>a lot more difficult for them to obtain any of

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<v Speaker 1>these benefits. So yeah, just an interesting side look at

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<v Speaker 1>what happens for these people with long COVID and then

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<v Speaker 1>the struggle just to just get any type of payments

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<v Speaker 1>back for work that they were losing. Christopher Roland, Business

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<v Speaker 1>of Health Report at the Washington Post, thank you very

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<v Speaker 1>much for joining us. Oh thank you. I'm Oscar Ramirez

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<v Speaker 1>and this has been reopening America. Don't forget effort today's

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<v Speaker 1>big news stories. You can check me out on the

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<v Speaker 1>Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday. So follow us

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<v Speaker 1>on I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast