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