No accusations and no company names — only verifiable facts from official sources: the health department, budget documents, insurance statistics.
HHS establishes the Office of Long COVID Research and Practice (OLC) — a coordinating body between NIH, CDC and AHRQ for Long Covid research.
At his confirmation hearing for Secretary of Health and Human Services, a senator asks R. F. Kennedy Jr. whether he will direct funding toward research and treatments for Long Covid. His reply, quoted verbatim from coverage of the hearing: “Absolutely, senator, with enthusiasm.”
The HHS advisory committee on Long Covid (established under the previous administration) is disbanded.
The OLC director notifies staff by email that the office is being closed as part of the HHS reorganisation.
The administration proposes cutting the NIH budget by $18–27.5 billion for fiscal year 2026; a bill proposed in the House of Representatives (09.2025) instead provides for $48 billion in NIH funding and does not include the proposed HHS reorganisation.
HHS holds “roundtables” on the topic of Long Covid; coverage notes a stated commitment to the issue, but without clearly specified funding.
Results from RECOVER-VITAL (funded before the OLC's closure) are published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases — studies that began in earlier years continue to report results despite the institutional changes.
Sources: The Sick Times, 25.03.2025 and 18.09.2025 · Scientific American · STAT News, 27.02.2025 and 02.09.2025 · AONL · PBS NewsHour (confirmation hearing, 01.2025) · RECOVER COVID Initiative, recovercovid.org.
approved funding for NIH RECOVER for fiscal years 2025–2029 (clinical trials, observational studies, pathobiology).
additionally redirected to RECOVER, approved in December 2024, before the institutional changes of 2025.
proposed cut to the overall NIH budget for fiscal year 2026 — affects research generally, not only Long Covid; the legislative process on this has not concluded.
Sources: RECOVER COVID Initiative, “Funding” page · Fierce Healthcare, analysis of the proposed HHS budget · STAT News, 02.09.2025 (House of Representatives bill).
These three measures are often conflated in public discourse. Here we separate them — each with its own source.
report current Long Covid symptoms at a given point in time, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey — the share varies depending on the period and survey methodology. This is a measure of the presence of symptoms, not of disability.
Brookings Institution (Katie Bach) estimates up to 4 million full-time-equivalent jobs affected by Long Covid, based on the Household Pulse Survey (~16 million working-age adults with Long Covid) and a study in The Lancet (22% unable to work, 45% working reduced hours). Using other data sources (the Minneapolis Fed, the UK's TUC), the same institute has also published lower estimates of 2–3 million. The discrepancy reflects differing methodology, not necessarily an error.
Brookings estimates ~$230 billion in annual lost income (≈1% of U.S. GDP) from lost labour alone. Economist David Cutler (Harvard) estimates the total cost — lost income, medical expenses and reduced quality of life — at approximately $3.7 trillion. The difference comes from what exactly is being counted, not from conflicting facts.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Household Pulse Survey · Brookings Institution, “New data shows long Covid is keeping as many as 4 million people out of work” and “How much is long Covid reducing labor force participation? Not much (so far)” · David Cutler, National Bureau of Economic Research.
The average approval rate for federal disability benefit (SSDI) claims, across all causes, is ~31% (2011–2020, according to Social Security Administration data) — ~67–69% are denied at the initial stage.
Long Covid does not appear as a standalone diagnosis on the SSA's list (the “Blue Book”). The SSA publishes a separate guide for health professionals — “Long COVID: A Guide for Health Professionals” — to help document functional limitations in claims.
A private SSDI claims consulting company (Allsup) reports that, based on its own data at the time, ~4–5% of its monthly caseload was related to COVID/Long Covid — this is an observation from a private service provider, not official government statistics.
A committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (June 2024, commissioned by federal health authorities) expresses concern that the process for recognising disability due to Long Covid is not sufficiently adapted to the nature of the condition.
The absence of a standalone diagnostic category means that benefit approval depends entirely on the quality of the medical documentation of functional limitations — not on the label “Long Covid” itself.
Sources: Social Security Administration, EN-64-128 (guide for health professionals) · SSA statistics on approved/denied claims · Allsup (private company) · STAT News, 06.06.2024 (National Academies report).
Here we take a neutral look at what Long Covid is and what we can do about it together.
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