“Every 70 seconds someone in America develops Alzheimer’s,” warns the Alzheimer’s Association in a 2017 Facts and Figures report. Just last week, the association, a nonprofit research advocate for Alzheimer’s care and support, released its figures from 2019 and current figures project Alzheimer’s cases to triple to 13.8 American by 2050.
Alzheimer’s is incurable. It is a progressive dementia that can last decades, slowly deteriorating a person’s cognitive function, while the body and mind weaken into a state of disability until ultimately they pass away, explains a 2017 blog by Robert Egge, Alzheimer’s Association Chief Public Policy Officer.
The long-term care costs surrounding this disease are astounding because Alzheimer’s disease is progressive and slowly incapacitates the person. The degeneration could last decades with the afflicted person fully dependent for their long-term care.
“The total lifetime cost of care for someone with dementia was estimated at $357, 297 (in 2019 dollars),” states the 2020 Alzheimer’s Association Facts and Figures report. “Total payments in 2020 for all individuals with Alzheimer’s or other dementias are estimated at $305 billion (not including unpaid caregiving).”
The 2020 facts and figures report shows that Medicare and Medicaid can be expected to cover 67 percent of a patient’s total cost of care. With the remainder becoming the patient’s responsibility. To put this into perspective, 33 percent of last year’s total lifetime cost of care left dementia patients with $117,908 they needed to pay.
“This year’s report illuminates the growing cost and impact of Alzheimer’s on the nation’s health care system, and also points to the growing financial, physical and emotional toll on families facing this disease,” said Keith Fargo, Ph.D., director of scientific programs and outreach for the Alzheimer’s Association. “Soaring prevalence, rising mortality rates and lack of an effective treatment all lead to enormous costs to society, Alzheimer’s is a burden that’s only going to get worse.”
Long-term care (LTC) insurance can provide relief to fill in the coverage gaps leftover by Medicare and Medicaid or private healthcare insurance plans. Those families without LTC insurance or adequate savings, may have no other choice than to step in as pseudo nurse and provide in-home care for their loved one.
In fact, non-medical persons servicing care to those with Alzheimer’s and dementia-related conditions was being done nationwide. “In 2017, 16 million Americans provided an estimated 18.4 billion hours of unpaid care in the form of physical, emotional and financial support – a contribution to the nation valued at $232.1 billion,” stated the association’s 2018 facts and figures report.
The financial implications of a lack of proper funding, research, treatment options and coverage options, leave patients and their families with mountains of bills to somehow manage on their own. This year, total cost of care for dementia is estimated at $305 million (not including unpaid caregiving), with future figures soaring to a projected $1.1 trillion in 2050 (in 2020 dollars), said the association’s 2020 report.
“Substantial investment in Alzheimer research is required to avoid an even more painful future for American families and already overwhelmed state and federal budgets, ” said Harry Johns, Alzheimer’s Association president and CEO. “Yet, the government has no national plan for how to deal with this crisis.”
Alzheimer’s Association urged Americans to get tested early during the mild cognitive impairment (MC ) stage of the disease in which afflicted persons experience “slight but noticeable decline in cognitive abilities, such as memory and thinking skills,” explains the organization on their website.
If people caught this disease early in the MC stage, the organization’s 2018 report states this could save the U.S. almost eight trillion in long-term care cost.
“Alzheimer’s disease steals everything – steadily, relentlessly, inevitably. With baby boomers reaching the age of elevated risk, we do not have time to do what we have always done,” reflected Egge in a 2013 press release.
