The high cost of Alzheimers

About 5.7 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease — 5.5 million of them aged 65 and older. By 2025, that number could jump 29% to 7.1 million.

The Alzheimers Association says every 65 seconds someone in the United States develops Alzheimer’s disease. By 2050, that will happen every 33 seconds. These new numbers are in a new report release in March by the Alzheimer’s Association.

The report found that while every other major cause of death was decreasing, Alzheimer deaths have doubled, increasing 123% between 2000 an 2015 while heart disease fell 11% in the same period.

Keith Fargo, director of scientific programs an outreach for the Association said in a statement

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. 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.

The authors of the report estimated cost of care is $277 billion a year, — and that doesn’t include unpaid caregiving. Of that amount, $186 billion is the cost to Medicare and Medicaid, and $60 billion is for out-of-pocket costs.

This will be the second year in a row that total costs have exceeded a quarter of a trillion dollars according to the report.

Total costs of care for people with Alzheimer’s and other similar dementias could top $1.1 trillion in 2050 (in 2018 dollars), according to the report.

Visit the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for more on Alzheimer’s disease.