The economic burden of Parkinson’s disease
The Lewin Group, part of OptumServe™, is a premier national health care and human services consulting firm. For nearly 50 years, we have proudly served multiple U.S. government agencies to help improve the health and well-being of our citizens.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) recently commissioned a study on the annual economic burden of Parkinson’s disease (PD). The study was conducted by The Lewin Group and is the most comprehensive assessment of the economic burden of Parkinson’s disease to date. The study also includes numerous ways Parkinson’s affects a person’s financial well-being and ability to participate in the workforce.
The total cost of PD to individuals, families and the U.S. government is $51.9 billion annually. Of this, $25.4 billion is attributed to direct medical costs and $26.5 billion to non-medical costs like missed work, lost wages, early forced retirement and family caregiver time.
The study also revealed that the federal government alone spends nearly $25 billion annually in caring for people with PD. About $2 billion of that is shouldered by Social Security, and the remaining $23 billion is in Medicare costs.
Multiple data sources were used to fully analyze the cost components of PD. Having a data-driven understanding of PD costs supports MJFF’s research mission to fund work toward better treatments to alleviate the urgent need today and the growing burden tomorrow.
Learn more about the study on The Michael J. Fox Foundation website.