Key Takeaways
Extended Takeaways
- The study estimated $19,630 in excess annual costs per person with PTSD, with a higher per-person burden in the military population ($25,684) than in the civilian population ($18,640), underscoring the value of aggressive case identification and treatment in both settings.
- Direct health care costs were only one part of the burden: unemployment accounted for $46.2 billion, productivity loss at work for $34.8 billion, and caregiving for $36.7 billion, suggesting that functional recovery should be a core treatment target alongside symptom reduction.
- Disability benefits were the single largest contributor in the military population, totaling $17.8 billion, which supports integrating evidence-based vocational rehabilitation approaches when treating Veterans with PTSD.
- Women made up 66.4% of the overall PTSD population, indicating that screening, prevention, and trauma-informed intervention efforts should be designed with the disproportionate burden in women in mind.
- Comorbid substance use appears to be a major cost amplifier: alcohol use disorder and drug use disorder were 2.2 times and 2.4 times higher in civilian adults with PTSD and 5.8 times and 7.3 times higher in the military population, reinforcing the need to routinely assess and treat PTSD and SUD together.
- Among uninsured civilian adults, PTSD was associated with an 11.6% excess rate of psychotherapy utilization, translating to approximately 124,000 additional uninsured individuals seeking care and $156.2 million in psychotherapy costs, highlighting a meaningful out-of-pocket barrier even when treatment is pursued.
