Financial Costs of Diabetes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Financial Costs of Diabetes - Research Paper Example Though the structure of the health expenditure survey is not useful for approximating nationwide complications and costs of diabetes, it can however give details of how diabetes has affected individual patients and their families economically. Diabetic patients have been using medical services more than other individuals diagnosed with another disease which makes their medical expense higher. This is especially with their medication where in some circumstances they are forced to use out of pocket expenses. In the year 2007, the economic cost of diabetes was estimated to be $174 billion in the United States of America (Javitt and Chiang, 2001). 116 billion dollars was the estimate of direct medical costs while 58 billion dollars was due to other expenses such as disability brought by diabetes, lost workdays and restricted activities in the health center. At an average, people diagnosed with diabetes use $11,744 annually, with $6649 being attributed to diabetes (Javitt and Chiang, 2001). Approximately 1/5 of health care dollars in the United States is used to care for individuals diagnosed with diabetes while 1/10 of health dollars is contributed to diabetes. People diagnosed with diabetes have higher medical expenditure compared to the rest of the population from health care statistics over the years (Javitt and Chiang, 2001). Diabetic patients and their families are not the only people who are affected economically by the disease but also the community or the society at large. Though they are affected indirectly, the impact is felt even at minimal. When patients are diagnosed with diabetes extra costs are required to cover for their medical care which means a percentage of health care for those who are not diabetic will have to reduce (Javitt and Chiang, 2001).