The Costs of Keeping Cool for Australians with Multiple Sclerosis

George Verikios; Michael Summers; Rex D Simmons; Zanfina Ademi

The Costs of Keeping Cool for Australians with Multiple Sclerosis

George Verikios, Michael Summers, Rex D Simmons, Zanfina Ademi

Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine Alfred Hospital

Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned Report › Research › peer-review

Abstract

Heat intolerance is a significant medical problem affecting people with Multiple Sclerosis. For people with MS, the costs of running their air conditioners are an additional disease-related expense that must be met on top of other out-of-pocket disease-related expenses. Using the results of the 2008 Keeping Cool Survey, we estimate the relative economic disadvantage faced by MS households in trying to keeping cool. We find that MS households spend around ten times more on keeping cool than the average Australian household. Sensitivity analysis indicates that our results are robust with respect to all key parameters, across regions and nationally. Our results suggest that energy rebates for heat intolerant persons currently in place in Victoria and Western Australia should be implemented in other Australian states and territories.

Original language	English
Place of Publication	Clayton VIC Australia
Publisher	Centre of Policy Studies, Monash University
Commissioning body	Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia (trading as National Multiple Sclerosis Research Foundation Limited)
Number of pages	38
ISBN (Print)	0732615976
Publication status	Published - Aug 2009

Publication series

Name	Centre of Policy Studies and the Impact
Publisher	Monash University , General Paper No. G-190 August 2009
ISSN (Electronic)	1031-9034

Keywords

cooling costs
economic disadvantage
energy rebates
heat intolerance
multiple sclerosis

Access to Document

312771836-oaFinal published version, 362 KB

https://www.copsmodels.com/ftp/workpapr/g-190.pdf

Cite this

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