http://www.safeminds.org/blog/2014/04/13/1-68-part-autism-story-cdc-didnt-report/
1 in 68 is Only Part of the Autism Story — What the CDC Didn’t Report
Date: 13 Apr 2014
By: Katie Weisman
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Even given the 1 in 68 prevalence just reported, there is no urgency around finding out what is happening in the other 38 states. See
page 370 for the CDC’s current plan to maintain only 12 ADDM sites for fiscal 2015.
See
page 9 for the flat 2015 budget request for autism.
Considering the Costs:
The costs associated with a child with autism average $17,000 per year in excess of a typical child. That increases to $21,000 excess for a child with severe autism. Overall, the estimated societal cost of caring for children with autism was over $9 billion dollars in 2011 (Lavalle et al. Pediatrics, 2014).
The lifetime cost of care for an individual on the spectrum is 3.2 million dollars (Ganz, 2007).
In 2005, the average annual medical costs of a Medicaid -enrolled child with autism were $10,709 – about 6 times higher than a child without autism (Peacock, et al. J. of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics, 2012).
In addition to medical costs, behavioral intervention for a child with autism can cost $40,000-$60,000 per year (Amendah, et al., Autism Spectrum Disorders, Oxford University Press 2011).
To put this whole thing in perspective, the cost of monitoring the other 36 states that have never been monitored should be about quadruple the current CDC budget or $92 million dollars. That would cost about $76 per individual under 21. However, if you use the Ganz number multiplied by 1.2 million children (not counting adults) then the overall lifetime cost to society of those children is $3,840,000,000,000 – 3.84 trillion dollars. It seems like a small price to pay to get a handle on the problem.
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