What is the cost or economic
impact associated with mental retardation?
Many people with mental retardation need
long-term services or care. The average lifetime cost for one person with
mental retardation is estimated to be $1,014,000 (in 2003 dollars). This
represents costs over and above those experienced by a person who does not
have a disability.
It is estimated that the lifetime costs
for all people with mental retardation who were born in 2000 will total
$51.2 billion (in 2003 dollars). These costs include both direct and
indirect costs. Direct medical costs, such as doctor visits, prescription
drugs, and inpatient hospital stays, make up 14% of these costs. Direct
nonmedical expenses, such as home modifications and special education, make
up 10% of the costs. Indirect costs, which include the value of lost wages
when a person dies early, cannot work, or is limited in the amount or type
of work he or she can do, make up 76% of the costs.
These estimates do not include other
expenses, such as hospital outpatient visits, emergency department visits,
residential care, and family out-of-pocket expenses. The actual economic
costs of mental retardation are, therefore, even higher than what is
reported here.
References
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Economic costs associated with mental retardation, cerebral
palsy, hearing loss, and vision impairment --- United States, 2003. MMWR
2004;53:57-9. [Read
this article on economic costs]
Honeycutt AA, Grosse SD, Dunlap LJ,
Schendel DE, Chen H, Brann E, al Homsi G. Economic costs of mental
retardation, cerebral palsy, hearing loss, and vision impairment. In:
Altman BM, Barnartt SN, Hendershot GE, Larson SA, editors. Using survey
data to study disability: results from the National Health Interview Survey
on Disability. Research in social science and disability, volume 3.
Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2003. p. 207-28.
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Date: October 29, 2005
Content source: National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental
Disabilities
