A Financial Cost—Benefit Analysis of a Health Promotion Program for Individuals With Mobility Impairments

People with disabilities make up approximately 20% of the U.S. population but account for 47% of total medical expenditures (Max, Rice, & Trupin, 1996). Health promotion programs represent one strategy for both improving health and containing medical costs for this population. This study examined the financial net benefits of the Living Well with a Disability health promotion program from the perspective of a third-party payer. Net benefits were defined as reductions in health-care utilization costs minus program implementation costs. The study sample consisted of 188 people with physical disabilities who completed the Living Well health promotion program. Health-care cost outcomes were collected using a 2-month retrospective recall of health-care services multiplied by Medicare unit cost estimates. The net benefits for the first 6 months postintervention were $2,631 per person for the entire cohort and $127 per person for a trimmed data set. The results suggested positive financial benefits and provide grounds for further research about third-party payer support of health promotion programs for individuals with physical disabilities.