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Study: Out-of-pocket costs of raising children with special needs vary by state
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From diapers to a car seat to co-pays for medical appointments, Beth Munro’s out-of-pocket expenses to care for her 14-year-old disabled daughter mount up.
“You start adding it all up, and it can be a lot,” said Munro, a Rockville resident whose daughter has cerebral palsy.
Marylanders spend an average of $778 per year in out-of-pocket expenses to care for a child with special needs, according to a new study from researchers at Washington University in St. Louis.
The study, which evaluated the average costs for each state, showed public programs, such as Medicaid, might not be adequate enough to ease the added costs.
“The financial burden is not insignificant,” said Paul Shattuck, a Washington University social work professor and author of the study, published in Pediatrics.
The costs vary widely among states, with Georgia residents bearing greater costs — an average of $970 — than their Massachusetts counterparts with similar demographics, who spend $560. Maryland fell close to the average of $774.
The country’s patchwork health care system varies state to state, Shattuck said. Residents in poorer states spend more in out-of-pocket expenses than in wealthier states, which tend to have a greater capacity for pilot programs and experimentation.
In Maryland, more than 18,000 people, including children, are on a waiting list for state services, which would help cover the expenses not covered through insurance, said Cristine Marchand, executive director of advocacy group The ARC of Maryland.
smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com
