Lifetime cost of care estimator

The short answer

There is one published set of lifetime cost estimates that this site can stand behind. CDC estimated lifetime costs for people born in 2000 with certain conditions, in 2003 dollars. ¹

No agency publishes lifetime cost broken down by severity. So this tool shows the published anchor, its caveats, and the list of things a life care planner would cost out. It does not invent a number for your child, and it will not.

The numbers, up front

Cerebral palsy: About $921,000 per person over a lifetime, in 2003 dollars, for people born in 2000 ¹
Intellectual disability: About $1,014,000 per person over a lifetime, in 2003 dollars, on the same basis ¹
Hearing loss: About $417,000 per person over a lifetime, in 2003 dollars, on the same basis ¹
Vision impairment: About $566,000 per person over a lifetime, in 2003 dollars, on the same basis ¹
What the estimates include: Direct medical costs, other direct costs such as special education and home modification, and lost productivity for the individual ¹
What they do not include: A parent leaving paid work, which families frequently report as the largest cost they actually feel ¹

This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere, stored on any server, or seen by anyone including us. There is no analytics on this page. Nothing is saved when you close the page. You can check this yourself: turn off your internet connection and the tool still works.

Three things to hold in mind before you use this.

These figures are in 2003 dollars, and no agency publishes an updated version. Applying an inflation adjustment ourselves would be inventing a statistic, so this site does not do it.

They are averages across all severities. A child at GMFCS level I and a child at level V do not have similar costs.

They overlap. A child with cerebral palsy and hearing loss is counted in both estimates, and the two figures cannot be added together.

What is not published, and why that matters

Nobody publishes a current, condition-by-condition, severity-by-severity lifetime cost figure for birth injury. Anyone quoting you a precise number is estimating.

That has two consequences worth knowing.

For planning, the useful exercise is not a total. It is a list: what will my child need, when, and who pays for it. That is what the second half of this tool gives you, and it is what paying for care is about.

For a legal case, the number that matters is a life care plan written for your child by a life care planner who assesses them, sometimes visits the home, and costs out each item year by year. An economist then converts it to present-day value. That is a completely different kind of number from a population average. See what a case looks like.

This site records what it could not source in its sources policy.

Questions parents ask

Why not adjust the CDC figures for inflation?

Because CDC publishes them in 2003 dollars and does not publish an updated version. Applying our own adjustment would produce a number no agency has published, which is exactly the kind of invented statistic this site refuses to print. ¹

My child has cerebral palsy and hearing loss. Do I add the two figures?

No. They are separate population estimates that overlap in the costs they count, so adding them would double-count. ¹ They are best used as an indication of scale, not as a calculation.

What number should I use for planning?

Rather than a total, use the list of what your child will need and work through who pays for each item. Medicaid waivers, EPSDT, school services and SSI cover a great deal of it. ² ³ See paying for care.

Is this what a case is worth?

No. Case value comes from a life care plan written for your child specifically, converted to present-day value by an economist. A population average is not a valuation and should not be treated as one. See what a case looks like.

Words on this page, in plain English

life care plan: A detailed written estimate of everything a person will need over their lifetime and what it will cost.
GMFCS: The Gross Motor Function Classification System. A five-level scale that describes how a child with cerebral palsy moves. Level I is walking without limits. Level V is being moved in a wheelchair by someone else.

See the full glossary and records decoder

Where these facts come from

CDC, MMWR. Economic Costs Associated with Mental Retardation, Cerebral Palsy, Hearing Loss, and Vision Impairment, United States, 2003. 2004. www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5303a4.htm. Link checked September 3, 2026.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Medicaid.gov. Home and Community Based Services. 2025. www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/home-community-based-services/inde. Link checked September 3, 2026.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Medicaid.gov. Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT). 2025. www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/benefits/early-and-periodic-screen. Link checked September 3, 2026.