The total annual economic cost of diabetes in 2002 was estimated to be $132 billion.
Direct medical expenditures totaled $92 billion and comprised $23.2 billion for diabetes care, $24.6 billion for chronic diabetes-related complications, and $44.1 billion for excess prevalence of general medical conditions. Indirect costs resulting from lost workdays, restricted activity days, mortality, and permanent disability due to diabetes totaled $40.8 billion.
The per capita annual costs of health care for people with diabetes rose from $10,071 in 1997 to $13,243 in 2002, an increase of more than 30%. In contrast, health care costs for people without diabetes amounted to $2,560 in 2002.
One out of every 10 health care dollars spent in the United States is spent on diabetes and its complications.
Direct Costs of Diabetes - Estimated at $92 billion in 2002, compared to $44 billion in 1997.
- Diabetes alone represents 11% of the US health care expenditure. People with diabetes have medical expenditures 2.4 times higher than they would if they did not have diabetes.
- $40.3 billion was spent for inpatient hospital care and $13.8 billion for nursing home care for people with diabetes.
- Diabetes-related hospitalizations totaled 16.9 million days in 2002. Rates of outpatient care were highest for physician office visits, which included 62.6 million visits to treat persons with diabetes.
- Cardiovascular disease is the most costly complication of diabetes, accounting for more than $17.6 billion of the $91.8 billion annual direct medical costs for diabetes in 2002.
Indirect Costs of Diabetes - Estimated to be $40 billion in 2002.
- In 2002, diabetes accounted for a loss of nearly 88 million disability days.
- 176,000 cases of permanent disability were caused by diabetes, at a cost of $7.5 billion.