The Issues in Estimating the Cost of FAS?
When doing cost estimates of an illness or condition, a number of issues can arise. Some examples pertinent to the estimation of the cost of FAS are: • Incidence or prevalence rate to use. Retrospective estimates can produce higher estimates than prospective ones. • Health impacts and associated care/services to include. For instance, what medical conditions are to be treated and what percentage of affected persons have each particular condition? Is lost productivity to be estimated? Are indirect costs such as administrative, policy, and research costs to be included? Are nonworkforce morbidity costs to be included? • Adjustments for the difference in the value of current dollars versus dollars that will be needed years in the future. Most economists agree on when it should or should not be done. In addition, when examining the cost of an illness or condition, it is important to understand the limitations of the estimates. These estimates do not: • Estimate the amount of money or years
