An Economic Evaluation of Asthma in the United States

To the Editor: Weiss et al. (March 26 issue)* convincingly show that both lives and money will be saved by improving the home treatment of patients with asthma. Practically, this involves education about asthma, nebulization in the home, and telephone back-up by knowledgeable nurses and physicians. Such a system works fine for families with access to private care. What about the children of poor families, who, as the authors point out, constitute an increasing proportion of those who are hospitalized with asthma? For the past two years I have tried in vain to launch a home nebulization program for inner-city…