How seasonal allergies are breaking the bank!
By: Gabbi Di Marino - content manager and fellow allergy sufferer
There’s a lot more to seasonal allergies than meets the eye. This burdensome condition is not only physically debilitating, impacting major things like the overall quality of life, productivity, and even mental health, but it’s also a condition that has quite the financial repercussions. All in all, allergies are a bummer.
Let’s break em’ down.
Cost of Allergy Medications
First of all, OTC meds can get pretty expensive, especially if you’re someone who has to take them every day year-round (I’m, unfortunately, someone who has to do just that). And, most allergy-sufferers aren’t able to tackle their symptoms with just one medication, so that means they have to shell out even more money on several meds!
Based on this recent survey by ValuePenguin, the average consumer will spend around $266 a year just on treatments - that’s over $16,000 in their lifetime! Breaking this down by population age, Gen-Zer’s spend about $390 a year and millennials $353, while baby boomers are at the bottom with $143. This is not something to turn our noses at - that’s some major $$ being spent on symptom management (and 66% of those with allergies aren’t even satisfied with their meds!)
Many of the survey respondents also reported that their insurance wasn’t helping cover the cost of their allergy meds. So that means that these costs were coming entirely out of pocket!
The economics of seasonal allergies
Based on this 2011 report, the average allergy sufferer will have to take off 1.7 days a year to manage their symptoms. And while this might not seem like a lot, keep in mind that over 60 million people in the U.S. alone have seasonal allergies (and this rate is only increasing!). It adds up quickly. The annual economic burden of seasonal allergies is estimated to be around $6.3-$7.1 billion a year! That’s a monumental amount of money lost to seasonal allergies.
Did you underestimate the impact of seasonal allergies? In that case, I hope this post helped to clear up just how severe and debilitating this condition is in all aspects of life!
Want to stay in the loop? Sign up for our newsletter below!
If you want to learn more about the other kinds of difficulties seasonal allergies bring about, check out this previous post we did on brain fog: the indivisible side effect of hay fever!