In the summer of 2023, we surveyed over 2,000 people with disabilities from across the United States about their out-of-pocket disability-related costs. We also asked about disability-related things that they needed but could not afford. Our preliminary results are available here in our RAND working paper.
Here is a summary of some of our findings:
- Adults with disabilities reported average annual out-of-pocket costs of $5,715 – equating to 19% of household income.
- 2/3 of people with disabilities reported an unmet need for a disability-related good and/or service that they needed to fully participate.
- 32% reported that their disability-related costs make it difficult to make ends meet.