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Help me estimate the financial burden on society from MS

Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 8:29 pm
by garyak
Are there estimates out there that put a dollar amount per ms patient that negatively impact the economy? Things like lost production, loss of tax revenue, the costs to government for healthcare dollars, medication subsidies, government re-imbursement for daily living aids , welfare costs etc that paint the financial picture of societies financial loss due to MS?

Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 9:10 pm
by David1949
I don't know about all the factors you mentioned, but I could take a shot in the dark at the costs of the meds. There are thought to be about 400,000 people with MS in the US. The cost of the drugs I believe is about $20,000 to $40,000 per patient per year. Lets say half of the 400,000 people use the MS drugs and let's use the lower figure for the cost. Thats 200,000x 20,000 or $4 billion per year.

If you want to improve on the accuracy of that number maybe we could run a poll asking how much each person's drugs cost per year.

Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 1:14 am
by Donnchadh
Another to approach this is to go to the parma companies and see what they disclose for their "MS" drug sales.

Then you would have to add in the costs of neuro visits, treatments, MRI's, etc. Also the social costs of disability payments and potential loss of work.

A lot of coin for something which doesn't work; at least in the sense of achieving a cure.

Donnchadh

Drug revenue

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 10:32 am
by Gordon

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 11:49 am
by 1eye
But I have had a PSW, nurses, physio and occupational therapists, speech therapists, social workers, cognitive testing people, numerous doctor visits, tests, second opinions, etc. MSLiberation, though she is as far as I know still suffering from stents clotting, was in the Insurance business. She did some work on this, and sent it to the Ontario government.

If you can't get a response from her, (she is more on Facebook than here) let me know.

It's not just drugs. 'MS' is an industry unto itself.

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 8:55 pm
by Sotiris