Annual Costs of Brain Injury in the U.S.
Overall, it is estimated that the cost of traumatic brain injuries in the United States weighs in at $48.3 billion annually. About $31.7 billion of that is spent on hospitalization costs, while the additional $16.6 billions goes toward costs associated with fatalities.
According to the Center for Disease Control, acute care and rehabilitation of brain injury patients in the United States costs about $9 billion to $10 billion per year. This does not include indirect costs to society as well as to families, including costs associated with lost earnings, work time, and productivity, as well as the costs linked to providing social services.
Lifetime Cost of Brain Injury
While costs vary according to the extent of the injury and its specific long-term effects, it is estimated that the cost of caring for a survivor of severe traumatic brain injury is between $600,000 and $1,875,000 over a lifetime.