Several states have invested in 1915(c) Home and Community Based Service (HCBS) Medicaid policies to improve outcomes and reduce costs for children and youth with significant behavioral health needs, or Severe Emotional Disturbance (SED). However, little is known about these programs and the children they serve. Through a retrospective…

Racial inequities in higher education and the labor market have led to disparate outcomes in student loan borrowing and repayment by race, with Black borrowers holding more student debt and being more likely to default on it compared with white borrowers. Student loan default, which helps perpetuate the racial wealth gap by disproportionately…

Autism is associated with a range of costs. This paper reviews the literature on estimating the economic costs of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). More or less 50 papers covering multiple countries (US, UK, Australia, Canada, Sweden, the Netherlands, etc.) were analysed. Six types of costs are discussed in depth: (i) medical and healthcare service…

Barriers to accessing preventive care, and healthcare in general, include lack of language proficiency (Chang, Chan, & Han, 2015; Lebrun, 2012; Ponce et al., 2006; DeRose, Escarce, & Lurie, 2007; Jacobs, Chen, Karliner, Agger-Gupta, & Mutha, 2006), inability to afford health care (Aguilera & Massey, 2003), lack of health insurance…

This paper aims to examine health care utilization and expenditure in the provision of medical care to understand the medical care burden of children with autism spectrum disorders based on recent literature reviews. This article reviews the recent literature in Medline, PubMed, and Google by using key terms that are relevant to autism spectrum…

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that up to 500,000 individuals under the age of 21 have autism, Asperger's syndrome, and other neurological disorders. This translates to an average of 1 in 110 children in the U.S. having an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism is now the sixth most commonly classified disability in the United States.…

Each year countless taxpayers overpay simply because they're not taking full advantage of medical deductions. Individuals with disabilities are especially at risk. Time and energy spent running around to doctor visits, therapy sessions, and the like can leave little left to spend on preparing taxes. Fortunately, with a little effort year round and…

This article is the sixth of a multi-part series on traumatic brain injury (TBI) and discusses lifelong living after TBI. Following TBI, lifelong outcomes vary depending on the individual affected, treatment provided and severity of injury. Fortunately, many individuals who experience mild concussions common to childhood have no lasting symptoms.…

The aim of this study is to analyze the health care costs of violence against women. For the study, we used a register-based approach where we identified victims of violence and assessed their actual health care costs at individual level in a bottom-up analysis. Furthermore, we identified a reference population. We computed the attributable costs,…

In this article, the author presents an update of Herman's article ["Changes in Patterns of Health Care," "School Health Review," 1(9-14)1969] that focuses on the changes in patterns of health care. He discusses the poverty, insurance, and access to medical care as well as the quality of medical care for adults and minors. He stresses that…

This study provides estimates of medical expenditures for a subset of children and adolescents who receive employer-based health insurance and have a medical diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Data analyzed were from the 2003 MarketScan[R] research databases. Individuals with an ASD had average medical expenditures that exceeded those…

Continuing is a national political drive for investments in health care information technology (HIT) that will allow the transformation of health care for quality improvement and cost reduction. Despite several initiatives by the federal government to spur this development, HIT implementation has been limited, particularly in the rural market. The…

The rising costs of medical treatment in the United States are fueling a movement to outsource medical treatment. Estimates of the number of Americans traveling overseas for treatment range from 50,000 to 500,000. Charges for common procedures such as heart bypass can be $11,000 in Thailand compared to $130,000 in the United States. Knee…

Around the world, the fight for affordable medical treatment is intensifying. Headline-grabbing battles are being waged in India, where the Chennai High Court recently decided a major constitutional case over access to lifesaving cancer medication. In Thailand, Abbott Laboratories, a multinational pharmaceutical giant, has withdrawn registration…

Context: Rural hospitals face multiple financial burdens. Due to federal law, emergency departments (ED) provide a gateway for uninsured and self-pay patients to gain access to treatment. It is unknown how much uncompensated care in rural hospitals is due to ED visits. Purpose: To develop a national estimate of uncompensated care from patients…