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June 1992 (Volume 70)
Quarterly Article
Yen-Pin Chiang
Laurie J. Bassi
Jonathan C. Javitt
December 2024
Dec 19, 2024
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Federal expenditures for blindness-related disability among Americans are examined. The government, rather than the private sector, frequently bears the economic consequences of visual disability through entitlement and public assistance programs. Findings suggest an average $11,896 federal cost of a person-year of blindness for a working-aged American, which includes income assistance programs (SSDI/SSI), health insurance programs (Medicare/Medicaid), and tax losses resulting from reduced potential earnings. Almost 97 percent of the aggregate annual federal costs of blindness in 1990, which totaled approximately $4 billion, is accounted for by working-aged adults, who represent less than one-third of the total blind population. Approximately 25 percent of all blindness is attributed to preventable causes.
Author(s): Yen-Pin Chiang; Laurie J. Bassi; Jonathan C. Javitt
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Volume 70, Issue 2 (pages 319–340) Published in 1992
