When HIV was first identified, its acute symptoms were the concern: mostly flu like.
Insurance companies, who have a vested interest in being accurate about risk, went "meh" about treating it like a pre-existing condition.
That came later, with AIDS.
As the long-term effects of HIV became known and showed up in data, insurance companies literally would have lost a shit ton of money if they'd insisted AIDS was only as harmful as a flu.
As the data came in showing the real risk of AIDS was in its long term effects, insurance companies became increasingly paranoid. Because they lose money when they have to pay out, and lose money if they downplay risks.
Covid now is in that middle area, where insurance companies are increasingly getting concerned about its long term effects in a way they do *not* get about colds or flu.
They're finding the data increasingly means they are going to lose money if they treat covid infections like cold or flu. The same way they once found with HIV.
