A government-appointed working group in Iceland has published a 206-page report calling for sweeping changes to how the health and social-welfare systems treat people with ME, long COVID, POTS, environmental illness and related conditions. Released October 22, the report sets out 42 recommendations spanning healthcare, research, higher education, insurance and public funding, arguing that current support falls well short of patients' actual disease burden.
What the Report Found
According to the working group, many patients with these conditions experience a severity of impairment comparable to other serious chronic illnesses, yet available medical services and social-insurance protections do not reflect that reality. The group was appointed in August 2025 and later broadened its mandate to include environmental illness alongside ME, long COVID and POTS, a condition affecting heart rate and circulation.
A central message of the report is that these illnesses should not be categorized as psychological or social problems. Instead, the working group says clinical care and benefit decisions should be grounded in biomedical evidence and in a realistic accounting of patients' physical limitations.
Proposed Changes to Services
The recommendations touch several parts of Iceland's public system:
- Strengthening the Akureyri Clinic, which already serves patients with these conditions
- Formalizing cooperation between the clinic and Landspítali, the national university hospital
- Establishing a specialized rehabilitation center tailored to post-viral and related illnesses
- Building a dedicated research program and biobank to support future study
- Expanding home-based healthcare options for patients unable to travel for appointments
- Reviewing social-insurance and financial-support rules that affect disability and sick-leave status
The report also calls for additional professional training so clinicians, social workers and insurance evaluators better understand the physical nature of these illnesses.
What Happens Next
None of the 42 recommendations have been adopted as government policy. Implementing them would require separate decisions across multiple ministries, including health and social affairs, as well as public institutions such as Landspítali and Iceland's social-insurance administration. The report functions as a policy roadmap rather than a binding mandate, and the pace or scope of any eventual changes remains uncertain pending government review.