Parents Deal with the High Cost of Food Allergies - East Idaho News
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Parents Deal with the High Cost of Food Allergies

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Getty 122112 PeanutAllergyRender?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1356125388179Tooga/Thinkstock(CHICAGO) — Having a child with a food allergy can not only be tough on the child, it can be expensive for the parents.
 
The cost of a food allergy in an average American child is more than $4,000 a year, according to a new survey from Northwestern University in Chicago.
 
What’s surprising is that most of that cost is not from direct medical care, but in money lost by parents taking care of their allergic child.
 
Researchers say that having to change jobs, or take part-time work in order to provide proper care, cost parents an average of $2,400 a year.  Many parents in the survey said they had to quit jobs or had been fired in connection with their child’s allergy.
 
All told, the survey estimated that the total annual economic cost to the United States due to food allergies in children was $25 billion.
 
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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