Annual Healthcare Expenses Paid by Parents of Children with Special Needs

Abstract

Background Parents of children with special needs face financial challenges every year. This creates a financial burden for parents with special needs. This study aims to determine how much money parents incur annually to pay for children with special needs to receive health services. This study aims to investigate the annual cost of each health service item that parents spend on their children with special needs.  Method The researcher surveyed families with children with special needs, to determine the care costs based on the variables they identified. The study's sample consisted of 86 parents of children with special needs, selected through a Google Forms survey.  Results The cost of health services for children with special needs, namely for occupational services, Speech Therapy, Physiotherapy, Psychology, Doctor's Fees, Complementary Health, Medicines / Vitamins, and Children's Laboratory. Every month, most parents spend 0 -500.000 IDR (Indonesian Rupiah) to pay for each health service. The maximum total of all health expenditures for children with special needs in one year is less than 10. 000.000 IDR. The biggest expense for health care is to pay for therapy costs and most parents come to child development clinics to get health services for their children.  Conclusion Parents who have children with special needs incur significant costs to finance their children's health services and the largest expenditure is used for various types of therapy that the child needs generally parents come to the child development clinic for their child's therapy needs.