For me, yes, like I was saying earlier, I was lucky to have the disability insurance, but there seems to be a problem with long-term disability claims. I certainly am not the only one whose long-term disability claim has been denied by disability insurance companies. In my particular case, and I know it is the case with a lot of other long-haulers, we do a lot of different medical tests, but everything comes back normal. On paper we look like there's nothing wrong with us when, in reality, most of us are completely debilitated and often bedridden or really unable to work.
From the statistics I've seen, only 20% of Canadians have disability insurance, which means that a large majority of the population don't have access to that. Some of those people also get very ill. It's not just COVID long-haulers. It's all of the people who get sick. Especially if they don't have access to disability insurance, they need to be able to rely on more than 15 weeks of financial support. The 15 weeks pass so quickly, especially with the health care system right now. It's so overloaded that I have to wait for months for one medical test. I've already done a few, but I'm still waiting to do more, because there's a backlog there. It's crucial, it's vital that this be addressed and that there be something done about it as soon as possible.