Measuring the Cost of COVID in Doctor’s Visits

A COVID infection leads to an average of nine extra visits per year.

When I wrote this, February of 2024, 1.2 million people in the United States had died of COVID — a loss of life that exceeds what we saw in World War 2, the so-called “Spanish” flu of 1918, the Civil War, and the entire AIDS epidemic. This story is not about them.

This story is about those who survived. And, given that virtually everyone currently living in the US, with the exception of some of us born very recently, has been infected, this is a story about all of us, and the lingering impact the virus has had on the health of the nation.

I’m not really talking about long covid — which is a distinct syndrome however ambiguously defined. I’ve complained about the lack of a strong case definition before. No, I’m talking about how much health care COVID has caused us to consume — and how much it continues to cause us to consume.

Here’s the thing — COVID infections lead people to engage in healthcare activities — doctor’s visits, ER visits, hospitalizations — at least in the acute phase. But what about when that phase is over? Well, new data suggests COVID sort of resets the healthcare thermostat — an infection leads to more healthcare consumption not only during the acute phase…