LYMEPOLICYWONK: Annual Lyme costs now top $3.1 billion—It’s time to wake up!
The annual cost of Lyme disease in the US in 2002 was estimated at $203 million by Dr. Zhang of the CDC. Today the annual cost is likely to exceed $3.1 Billion. The increased cost reflects the CDC revision of case numbers from 30,000 to 300,000 and adjustments for inflation.
The average cost of Lyme disease in 2002 was $8,712, which would be $10, 343 in today’s dollars. According to Zhang’s study, the later we intervene with the disease, the higher the costs. In today’s dollars the societal cost of Lyme when addressed at tick bite is $400. If we wait until early Lyme disease, the cost increases 4-fold to $1,658. By the time, we are dealing with late Lyme, the cost is through the roof– $20,502.
In late Lyme, only 14% of these costs are medical costs, the remaining 86% are due to indirect medical costs, nonmedical costs, and loss of productivity. As Dr. Cameron explained in his 2010 article, the cost of treating this disease is peanuts compared to the cost of denial. Denial of care merely shifts the burden of the disease from the insurer to the family, caretakers, and ultimately the government through lost tax revenues as people become less productive and lose their jobs.
Zhang’s estimate of annual costs was based on 23,763 cases in 2002 multiplied by the average cost of Lyme disease, which, at that time was estimated to be $8,172 in 2002 dollars. The CDC now estimates the number of annual cases to be 300,000. Using the inflation adjusted average case cost of $10,343, the total cost of Lyme disease now tops $3.1 Billion.
When I spoke at the Gibson forum in New York last year, I pointed out that it was time to recognize that our “do nothing” policy in Lyme disease was a failure. We don’t treat the bite aggressively, we don’t diagnose and treat to cure in early disease, and we aren’t funding research into effective treatments for late disease. How many ways can we fail? And for how long? It’s time to wake up and address the problem.
A hard copy of this post to share with legislators and other policy makers can be downloaded. Annual Lyme costs top $3.1 billion 11.5.13
The LYME POLICY WONK blog is written by Lorraine Johnson, JD, MBA, who is the Chief Executive Officer of LymeDisease.org, formerly CALDA. Contact her at lbjohnson@lymedisease.org. On Twitter, follow me @lymepolicywonk.
References:
Cameron, D. Proof That Chronic Lyme Disease Exists
Zhang X, Meltzer MI, Pena CA, Hopkins AB, Wroth L, Fix AD. Economic impact of Lyme disease. Emerging infectious diseases. 2006 Apr;12(4):653-60.
LYMEPOLICYWONK: THE COST OF DENIAL—THE DOLLARS AND SENSE OF IT
“The Financial Burden of Lyme Disease” Presentation at Gibson Forum
