Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia Triple Healthcare Costs for Americans 65 and Older

Part I of a Two-Part Series

New figures confirm what family caregivers have long known: when a senior loved one has Alzheimer's disease, the cost of care is well above that of seniors without memory loss. ________________

Total healthcare costs are more than three times higher for people with Alzheimer's and other dementias than for other people age 65 and older, according to the Alzheimer's Association's recent report, 2009 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures.

In the new report, total healthcare costs are calculated as per person payments measured from all sources. Medicare payments alone are almost three times higher for people with Alzheimer's and dementia than for others age 65 and over; Medicaid payments alone are more than nine times higher.

"With the country facing unprecedented economic challenges and a rapidly aging baby boomer population, now is the time to address the burgeoning Alzheimer crisis that triples healthcare costs for Americans age 65 and over," said Harry Johns, Alzheimer's Association CEO.

"It is widely understood that addressing healthcare is key to the country regaining its financial footing," continued Johns. "And there is no way this can be done without improving Medicare and Medicaid, which Alzheimer's directly impacts. A strategy to immediately confront Alzheimer's has the potential to save millions of lives and billions of dollars by reducing the burden on Medicare and Medicaid."

The table below shows the average per-person payments by source for health and long-term care services for seniors aged 65 years and older, with and without Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, 2004:

Average Per Person Payments	Beneficiaries with no Alzheimer's or Other Dementias	Beneficiaries with Alzheimer's or Other Dementias
Total payments*	$10,603	$33,007
Medicare payments	5,272	15,145
Medicaid payments	718	6,605
Private insurance payments	1,466	1,847
Other sources payments	211	519
HMO payments	704	410
Out-of-pocket payments	1,916	2,464
Uncompensated care	201	261

* Payments by source do not exactly equal total payments, due to the effect of population weighting. 


      

Visit the website of The Alzheimer's Association to view a summary and the full text of the 2009 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures.

People with Alzheimer's are high consumers of hospital, nursing home and other health and long-term care services, which translates into high costs for Medicare, Medicaid and for millions of families. As families struggle to survive in a deepening recession and as states grapple with budget shortfalls, Alzheimer's disease threatens to overwhelm them both. Most people with Alzheimer's also have one or more additional serious medical conditions, such as diabetes or coronary heart disease. Their Alzheimer's greatly complicates the medical management for these other conditions and drives up costs significantly.