Statement

Susan Connors - President/CEO
Brain Injury Association of America

The Brain Injury Association of America is the nation's oldest brain injury patient advocacy organization. We are honored to participate in today's event and grateful to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association for calling attention to this issue.

Traumatic brain injury is not only the signature injury of the War in Iraq, it is a major public health problem right here in the U.S. Every year, 1.4 million people sustain a TBI, making it 5 times more common than HIV/AIDS, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis and breast cancer combined.

Right now, more than 5 million Americans have a life-long disability as a result of TBI. It is the leading cause of death and disability among children and young adults.

Imagine not knowing a hairbrush from a toothbrush or being unable to recall which goes on first-your shoes or your socks. Imagine knowing what you want to say but being unable to find your words. Brain injury is the last thing on your mind until it's the only thing.

As you'll hear later, brain injury results in physical, cognitive, and behavioral impairments, but it is the cognitive challenges that interfere most with work, school, and personal relationships. Each year, the Brain Injury Association answers 100,000 calls for information and help. According to those callers, it is the cognitive services that are hardest to access.

Cognitive rehabilitation is the one thing that helps brain injury patients regain their independence, but many insurance companies deny coverage, and public health agencies limit the scope, duration and timing of treatment. These approaches fly in the face of the more than 700 published articles discussing the benefits of cognitive rehabilitation.

Patients with brain injury and family caregivers suffer because of the lack of access to treatment. So does the American public. The societal cost of TBI is $60 billion per year for medical expenses and lost wages. That doesn't include the costs of inappropriate placement in nursing homes, psychiatric facilities and correctional institutions, which creates needless long-term taxpayer burden.

You and I pay those taxes while insurance companies keep the premiums they collect. The Brain Injury Association of America believes it is time to hold insurance companies accountable to policyholders and to demand federal and state investment in cognitive rehabilitation research and services.