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February 17th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda THURSDAY, Feb. 16 (HealthDay News) — Average medical costs for a
stroke patient with language impairment (aphasia) are more than $1,700
higher in the first year after stroke than for a patient without aphasia,
a new study finds.
Researchers analyzed the medical records of 3,200 Medicare patients in
South Carolina who had an ischemic (blocked blood flow to the brain)
stroke in 2004. They found that 12 percent of them had trouble speaking
because of the stroke.
Help in regaining lost speech drive up medical bills, the researchers
found. Medicare payments averaged over $20,700 for those with aphasia
compared to about $18,700 for those without these language difficulties,
an 8.5 percent difference.
The researchers also found that patients with aphasia were older and
suffered more severe strokes, stayed in health care facilities 6.5 percent
longer than those without impaired language, and had higher rates of
illness and death.
The study appears Feb. 16 in the journal Stroke.
Each year in the United States, strokes leave about 100,000 people with
language impairment.
“These findings are important because dramatic changes are occurring in
health care reimbursement, specifically imposed caps on Medicare
reimbursement for outpatient speech language pathology and physical
therapy,” study lead author Charles Ellis Jr., an associate professor of
health sciences and research at the Medical University of South Carolina
in Charleston, said in a journal news release.
“Although the current reimbursement cap is $1,870 for these therapies,
the financial burden of the cap remains a major limiting factor to access
long-term rehabilitation for patients with persisting aphasia,” he
noted.
More information
The National Stroke Association has more about aphasia.
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