Synen på svenskar - Den ekonomiska bördan av synnedsättning och blindhet i Sverige

Sammanfattning: Throughout history, people have always been faced by difficulties regarding their physical conditions. Vision of sight is no different and poor eyesight has certainly hindered a lot of people from achieving their goals in life. To this day, this still holds true and many people around the globe are affected by some sort of visual impairment. The purpose of this study is to describe and to determine the economic burden of visual impairment in Sweden. In this paper we are trying to determine the total annual cost of visual impairment where resources are seen as scarce and can only be consumed once. This is based on the thought of opportunity cost. The method we are using to determine the economic burden is called cost of illness and by finding and summing both the direct and indirect cost we get a result over a different set of costs for the society to bear. The findings of this essay showed that vision impairment and blindness cost about 13,5 miljarder SEK. Most of these costs stem from loss of production, eye examinations and different visual aids. The results are characterized by some uncertainty and not too much can be said in the discussion about the correct distribution of resources. However, the purpose of this essay is not to provide adequate counseling for policymakers, but to help future researchers in their studies.