"These startling cost estimates for Alzheimer's care clearly illustrate the great challenges faced by both families and our national healthcare systems as the number of people with Alzheimer's continues to grow," said William Thies, Ph.D., Alzheimer's Association vice president of Medical and Scientific Relations. "Increasing the funding for Alzheimer's research into early detection, better treatment and prevention is critical to curbing this impending world health disaster. We can fund research now or wait for Alzheimer's to overwhelm the health systems in the U.S. and throughout the world."
According to the Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Aging, the older population--persons 65 years or older--numbered 36.3 million in 2004 (the latest year for which data is available). They represented 12.4% of the U.S. population, about one in every eight Americans. By 2030, there will be about 71.5 million older persons, more than twice their number in 2000. People 65+ represented 12.4% of the population in the year 2000 but are expected to grow to be 20% of the population by 2030.
According to the U.S. Alzheimer's Association, Medicare costs for people with Alzheimer's will be over $1 trillion by 2050 and Medicaid costs for nursing home care alone will be about $118 billion. Nobody can say for sure how many people among us will have Alzheimer's in the future but some experts say we will have 16 million or more Alzheimer's sufferers in America by 2050. The treatment costs for these people will certainly be staggering.
"All too often, seniors are unable to access adequate mental health care in their communities, even when they have access to other health care services in places like local community centers," said Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) who works closely in the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease on Capitol Hill with Senator Clinton and others.
Add to this health care crisis an often overlooked segment of the population that Senator Clinton often discusses: patients and sufferers from Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease. These are younger sufferers; people sometimes as young as fifty years of age.
"Alzheimer's doesn't just affect the elderly," Senator Clinton said. "When Alzheimer's disease or other dementias unexpectedly strike younger individuals, they face daunting challenges in addition to the disease itself, like difficulty obtaining a diagnosis, early retirement and the loss of jobs and income."
Congressional funding for Alzheimer's education, research and related programs such as 24/7 Call Centers, the National Family Caregiver Support Program, and other efforts, is never easily secured. Congressional committees with oversight and funding authority for Alzheimer's projects have already recommended funding cuts to several Alzheimer's programs in this budget cycle and the House and Senate are not expected to vote on Alzheimer's projects until after the November elections.
"Although we have made progress in the awareness, diagnosis, and treatment of Alzheimer's over the past 15 years... we must do more," Senator Clinton said. "We must continue to make this disease a national priority. This means directing more resources to learn how to identify early onset dementia and stop its progression."
"I am hopeful that together we can combat this disease and do all we can to bring hope, help and an eventual cure to the millions of Americans with Alzheimer's," Senator Clinton said.
1. Wouldn't it be prudent on your part to ask on this very day for the Universal Health Insurance including the hospice, so that all the patients at least get the treatment?
2. Wouldn't it be prudent to say that military spending in this country is bizarre and money should be redirected to health - related issues?
3. Wouldn't it also be prudent to say that Big Pharma gets billions on the so- called Alzheimer's research while it is much more useful to look how is it going in other nations and see that psychological loneliness and total isolation which we practice here induces many symptoms?
4. And last but not least: We kill a lot of children, Mr. Carey. We kill them here and kill them in other countries. Maybe you first take care of those. And if there are children alive, old people... have a tendency to live longer too.
by
Mark Sashine (51 articles, 19 quicklinks, 244 diaries, 3463 comments)
on Thursday, September 21, 2006 at 7:46:07 AM
There seem, at this point, to be 3 components: 1. Use it or lose it; 2. the sociology of youth and the elderly together; 3. medication. I'd be most interested in learning how different countries are caring for their Alzheimer's patients. It's in my family as well.
by
Rachel Gladstone-Gelman (37 articles, 0 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 29 comments)
on Thursday, September 21, 2006 at 9:02:42 AM
2 comments
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