Silver Book Fact
Medicare beneficiaries with vision loss incur significantly higher costs than individuals with normal vision. Approximately 90% of the higher annual costs are non-eye related medical costs– $2,193 for those with moderate loss, $3,301 for those with severe loss, and $4,443 for those who are blind. Extrapolating to the entire Medicare population, blindness and vision loss are associated with $2.14 billion in non-eye related costs (in 2003 dollars).
Javitt, Jonathan C., Zhiyuan Zhou, and Richard J. Wilke. Association Between Vision Loss and Higher Medical Care Costs in Medicare Beneficiaries: Costs are greater for those with progressive vision loss. Ophthalmology. 2007; 114(2): 238-45. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17270673&dopt=AbstractPlus