The following statistics are according to the University of Alabama National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
- Average yearly expenses can range from $228,566 to $775,567 in the first year depending on the severity of the injury.
- Estimated lifetime costs due to spinal cord injury (SCI) can range from $681,843 to over $3 million for a 25 year old. The cost of the injury
- 87.9% of all SCI individuals are discharged from hospitals to private homes.
- Length of initial hospitalization following injury in acute care units - 15 days.
- Average stay in rehabilitation unit - 36 days.
- 42.6% of SCI individuals are considered paraplegic (losses of movement and sensation in the lower body) and 56.4% quadriplegic (losses of movement and sensation in both the arms and legs).
- Percentage of SCI individuals covered by private health insurance at time of injury - 52%. Note: Even with health insurance, most insurance companies are not longer paying for durable medical equipment.
- If unable to return to work, SCI individuals are ineligible for state assistance.
- A manual wheelchair for paraplegics averages $5,000 and a power wheelchair for a quadraplegic averages $25,000.
- It is not uncommon for SCI individuals to wait 2-4 years for equipment assistance from other agencies.
