Australia has only a handful of specialists familiar with managing what happens when the nervous system can’t properly regulate the body, as sometimes occurs with long COVID. While long COVID clinics are being set up, there are no government-funded clinics for this type of nervous system dysfunction and private waiting lists are now long.
From the outset, long-COVID sufferers faced the same prejudice experienced by patients before them who sought assistance through Centrelink and the National Disability Insurance Scheme for the effects of post-infection conditions.
Disability insurance schemes worldwide are driven by definitions and checklists that allow non-medical workforces to assess and approve candidates for support services. But those with “invisible illness” rarely meet these criteria.
