The High Cost of PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment

Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released a study on the Veterans Affairs Department's treatment of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, which showed that dealing with these invisible wounds of war carries a high financial price tag.

In a blog post today, CBO director Douglas W. Elmendorf said the average cost of treating veterans with PTSD, TBI or both was "about four to six times greater . . . than for patients without those conditions."

He said one in four recent combat veterans treated at VA from 2004 to 2009 had a diagnosis of PTSD and about 7 percent had a diagnosis of TBI. In 2010, VA spent a total of $2 billion to treat Iraq and Afghanistan veterans...