Economic Burden Quote by Dr. Dan Cameron

"The economic burden of CLD has yet to be addressed. The mean cost estimate of CLD per patient in the US, of $16,199 per annum in 2002 dollars [8], reflects the toll on human health and cost to society. The annual per-patient cost of CLD is substantially higher than the cost for other common chronic illnesses: $10,911 for fibromyalgia [21], $ 10,716 for rheumatoid arthritis [21], and $13,094 for lupus [22]. Eighty-eight percent of the cost ($14,327) of Lyme disease consisted of indirect medical cost, nonmedical cost, and productivity losses. Cutting medical cost would save, at most, only 12% or $1,872 per annum. In 2002, the annual economic cost of LD in the US, based on the 23,000 cases reported to the CDC that year, was estimated to be $203 million [8]. Considering that the actual number of LD cases is believed to be 10 times higher than the number of cases reported to the CDC, the actual annual cost could be $2 billion [23, 24]."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2876246/?tool=pubmed

"The economic burden of Lyme disease can be estimated based on a collaboration of Zhang and Meltzer from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Peña and Hopkins, from the University of Maryland, and Wroth and Fix from Care First-Easton Branch (previously Delmarva Health Plan), Easton, Maryland, USA.[9] The average annual cost of acute LD was $1,310 in

2002 dollars. The average annual cost of CLD was $16,199, a cost 12 times higher than cost for early Lyme disease. Eighty-eight percent of the average annual cost was indirect medical costs, nonmedical costs, and productivity."

http://www.senatordonwhite.com/banking/2010/062210/cameron.pdf