Statistics vary on the exact cost and economics of autism. This 2010 article from the New York Times cites a study from the Harvard School of Public Health which estimates costs at "$72,000 a year for someone with an extreme case of the disorder, and even $67,000 a year for those on the lower end of the spectrum"....“It can cost $3.2 million to take care of an autistic person over the course of his or her lifetime,” the study said. That article goes on to mention that insurance companies often won't cover autism treatments.
The New York Post had an article about a week ago about shifting the costs of autism from taxpayers to private insurers.

Another article from AOL Daily Finance states, "The lifetime health care costs for a person with autism have been estimated to be more than $1.6 million, and the estimated total expense burden to the health care system associated with ASD [Autism Spectrum Disorders] rose 142% from 2000 to 2004," according to a 2009 study published in the journal Pediatrics. Some estimates say it costs about $18,000 more to educate an autistic child than a typically developing child. It surprisingly difficult to come up with some concrete numbers on the cost of autism as it varies from family to family and state to state.
The fact is that if we did every therapy currently out there to treat autism, we would go broke. There are also peripheral costs associated with autism that rarely show up when compiling totals. Some families take out second mortgages to pay for chelation therapy and b12 injections. We are fortunate enough to live in a state with good services. Other states have 2 or 3 year wait lists for early intervention programs so people pay out of pocket for speech, occupational therapy and developmental therapy. Maine also requires private insurance companies to cover early intervention related services so we have been fortunate in that regard. We've found the biggest financial strain is having to limit ourselves to jobs and careers that can support Curtis' schedule.

Curt's mom only recently stopped waitressing for a career in the school system. Being a waitress provided the flexibility to be home with Curtis whenever I had to work because we could not put Curtis in a traditional daycare. Curtis is either with his mom, dad, or a support person at virtually all times. I've turned down career advancement that involves travel because it's not conducive to our family situation. Another peripheral cost is house hunting.

Curtis always comes first and we've had a great situation at his school with an ed tech who teaches and fights for Curtis and it isn't a situation we want to mess with. Unfortunately, we also live in an expensive neighborhood. While we see nice houses for sale all the time in neighboring cities and neighborhoods, we realize a change could be quite detrimental to Curtis' education. He has just gotten comfortable at his school and trusts his ed tech completely. Buying the house we want in another neighborhood or town nearby means having to start from scratch with another school system and we know from doing our own research that support for special needs students can change drastically from school system to school system, not to mention turning Curt's world upside down in a new setting, away from what he has worked for the last 2 plus years building at his current school. The fact is, we'd rather rent in an area where he is getting the best special ed. services than own in an area with a bad reputation for handling these kids. We have done a lot of research in this area and seen at least a dozen houses over the last couple years, but we'll pull the trigger only when the house and school system are a match.

There is no cut and dry answer to how much autism costs. Autism is a spectrum disorder and associated costs, whether paid by the parent, insurance, or taxpayers, are on a spectrum as well. From our point of view, we do what we can afford while always keeping Curtis' best interests front and center, even if that means personal sacrifices in terms of housing, money and career.

Greg, Dad