In a report prepared for the New Millennium Research Council (NMRC), Robert E. Litan identifies up to $927 billion in cost savings and output benefits from "business as usual" broadband deployment and an additional $532 billion-$847 billion in economic benefits from accelerated broadband deployment. Litan is vice president for research and policy at the Kauffman Foundation and also is a senior fellow in the economic studies program at the Brookings Institution.
In Great Expectations: Potential Economic Benefits To The Nation From Accelerated Broadband Deployment To Older Americans And Americans With Disabilities, Litan notes: "Three types of benefits from broadband deployment and use are addressed: lower medical costs; lower costs of institutionalized living; and additional output generated by more seniors and individuals with disabilities in the labor force. Considered together, these three benefits are estimated to accumulate to at least $927 billion in 2005 dollars ... This amount is equivalent to half of what the United States currently spends annually for medical care for all its citizens ($1.8 trillion) ... Policies designed to accelerate the use of broadband for these populations, however, could significantly add to the benefits, by cumulative amounts ranging from $532 billion to $847 billion (depending on the wages earned by the additional working seniors)."
To provide a sense of scale for the potential savings and other benefits from accelerated broadband, the NMRC report notes: "The policy benefits are as substantial as what the federal government is likely to spend on homeland security over the next 25 years. Total cumulative benefits, under the right set of policies, could exceed what the United States currently spends annually for health care for all its citizens ..."
Though it has been understood that broadband technologies that allow rapid and always-on connections to the Internet will provide significant benefits to the U.S. economy, the NMRC report is the first to estimate the economic benefits to the nation due to cost savings and output expansion resulting from the use of broadband technologies for an important specific sub-group of the U.S. population: the 35 million Americans over 65 and as many as 36 million non-elderly Americans with disabilities. As the report points out: "There is wide agreement that broadband will provide enormous benefits to users and to the entire economy, especially as the take-up rate increases. But so far, relatively little attention has been paid to the potential benefits to be reaped by different groups within American society and how this in turn will generate economic benefits and cost savings over time ... Clearly, with so much at stake, policymakers have strong reasons to consider measures to accelerate the deployment and use of broadband technologies for America's seniors and individuals with disabilities."
The Litan report is being hailed by groups representing older Americans and those with disabilities. Flora Green, national spokesperson, The Seniors Coalition, said: "This report lays out the need for accelerated broadband access for seniors with disabilities and the substantial and measurable benefits that will result from eliminating the barriers to the deployment of this broadband technology. Most importantly, the Litan report documents the fact that most seniors with disabilities don't need to be Internet savvy, but only need access to monitors and devices that record information on chronic illnesses of seniors and then relay that information across a broadband network. It is a technology that will save Medicare money, improve the quality of life for millions of seniors, and ultimately save lives when a life-threatening condition is instantly reported across that broadband network. The time is at hand for Congress to eliminate the barriers to full deployment of a national broadband network."
Andrew J. Imparato, president and CEO, American Association of People with Disabilities, said: "Mr. Litan makes a compelling economic case for accelerated broadband deployment to people with disabilities and seniors. If we can leverage this new technology to improve health, independent living and labor force participation, as Mr. Litan suggests, we will have moved closer to our goals of full participation in community life for Americans with disabilities of all ages. The fact that this transformation will result in billions in savings for the federal treasury will hopefully move this important issue up on the list of national priorities."
