David Cutler, Professor of Applied Economics at Harvard University, has spent his career assessing the economics of healthcare. Over the past four years he has applied his skills to assessing the cost of Covid, and subsequently Long Covid, on the U.S. economy. His original analysis, published in JAMA in 2022, suggested that Long Covid would cost the U.S. economy $2.6 trillion, but with the chronic condition proving more prevalent and prolonged than originally estimated, those figures were revised to a massive $3.7 trillion.

In this week’s episode Cutler explains these costs and their implications. We discuss what has been included in projecting these staggering costs, and what needs to be done, on governmental and clinical levels, to manage these costs and the condition. Whilst the findings may seem bleak, it is Cutler’s hope that in highlighting the enormity of the problem, policymakers may see the urgent need to address it.

Living with Long Covid? How was your week?

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