Young Adults With Autism & Intellectual Disability Had Higher Health Care Costs Than Those With Autism Alone

HMedicaid fee-for-service health care expenditures among young adults with developmental disabilities transitioning to the adult health care system between 2015 and 2019 increased for psychiatric outpatient services and psychiatric long-term care, while expenditures for inpatient psychiatric services and psychiatric medications declined during the same period, according to a recent study. Young adults diagnosed with intellectual disability (ID), either alone or with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), had consistently higher Medicaid fee-for-service expenditures than those diagnosed with ASD alone.

Psychiatric Care Expenditures

Individuals with both ASD and ID had the highest per-person expenditures for psychiatric outpatient . . .