U.S. Parents Imparts 1.5 Billion Hours Yearly to Children with Special Health Care Needs

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The statistics related to U.S. Families devoting their time to Health Care is staggering. As per a new study, in a Year, U.S. Families spend around 1.5 Billion Hours towards Health Care for their disabled or chronically ill children.

According to Health Resources & Services Administration, out of the total children under the age of 18, 20% requires special health care which means one out of every five families in the United States. 

In a study published by Health.com, on an average, the hours devoted to families and their relatives towards health care cost around $36 billion and $12 billion for unskilled workers.  The parents and families were asked to impart few hours towards health care for their children which it state bears would cost high wages for home health care and in case if the children ar in the hospital, they would be admitted for a longer duration.

40,000 parents were involved in the study between 2009 to 2010. As per estimates, around 5.6 million children need different types of Healthcare which includes disorders such as Epilepsy, Cystic Fibrosis, Cerebral Palsy, Intellectual Disability, Muscular Dystrophy, and other traumatic brain injuries. Dr. Mark Schuster, a Senior Researcher, states that "There's pretty sophisticated stuff that parents are being asked to do once their child gets home". He added that "The illnesses requiring the most hours are all very complex". 

The study provides the details on the topmost cause of healthcare where Asthma contributes to over 3.9 million of the total 11.2 million children in the United States.  The research found out that the home-based health care by parents resulted in 17.6 billion in their lost wages which draws an average of $3,200 a child per year. The study was conducted with the objective to train parents on what to do and what not to do while providing home-based health care to their special children. Schuster stated that parents who can afford leave from their workplace can be beneficial as it doesn't affect their work which could have adverse effect their miss work.