Alzheimer's 3 healing stages

(The following statistics are from “2008 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures” Public PDF from the Alzheimer’s Association)

The following is an abstract of some of the data from this report. For a full report click on link listed after statistical information.

Alzheimer’s is the fastest growing disease amongst those over 50 years old.
Presently about 5.2 million people in the U.S. and about 40 million worldwide are diagnosed with ALZHEIMER’S.
There is a 50% increase projected in the next 20 years if no solutions are adopted
There is a prediction that 10 million of the 76 million baby boomers will develop ALZHEIMER’S in their lifetime.
Every 71 seconds there is a new case diagnosed (since I have talking there have been 8 more people diagnosed with a disease that could be prevented)
ALZHEIMER’S is now the 6th leading cause of death –surpassing diabetes.
9.8 million family members, friends and neighbors provide unpaid care
Avg. unpaid family member or friend gives about 17 hours week each…usually there is more than one person who helps support the Alzheimer’s patient.
Those with cognitive impairment require twice as much attention as those without
(although the averages show 17 hours per person …40% OF THOSE POLLED OFFER 40 UNPAID HOURS PER WEEK BEYOND THEIR NORMAL RESPONSABILITIES)
This saves the nation 89 billion dollars in unpaid care cost
Average life span of an Alzheimer’s patient after diagnoses is 8-10 years
Caregivers experience depression, high levels of stress and substantial financial hardship.
Average out-of pocket caregiver expense (other than the spouse) was $219/per month.
Over 33% of the caregivers reduced their paid work hours , quit their jobs or turned down promotions to continue giving care (easily 50-100k in lost income over a 8-10 year period
Of all caregivers for all illnesses in America today approximately 1/3 is to support Alzheimer’s patients.
Average cost for home care is 42K/yr and hospice care is 72K/yr.
The caregiver’s life is dramatically changed. It is my intention to reach them as well with this information because their lives will be impacted tremendously. Medicare is not the solution.
Medicare cost is 3 times higher for Alzheimer’s care than all other cost of Medicare combined. And keep in mind Medicare and Medicaid does not cover hospice care.
Those who’s income is low enough to qualify for Medicaid nursing home assistance must have a low income and virtually all of their social security money and other forms of income are removed from them…they are given a meager allowance for basic necessities and the balance owed for the nursing home assistance is then covered by Medicaid.
People with Alzheimer’s are 3 times more likely to be hospitalized with coexisting conditions.
This means that hypertension (high blood pressure) heart disease, osteo-arthritis, diabetes, vascular disease and thyroid diseases are all more prevalent in a person with Alzheimer’s.
This also means a substantial amount more financial output for the average person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
If the Alzheimer’s patient lives in their home, research shows that the average out of pocket expense after everything Medicare covers is still 22% of a families after tax income.

***Statistics gathered from AD fact and figures web site

The average caretaker would have to quit or reduce the hours of their job and eventually pay a tremendous amount of money out of pocket. Hospice care would require your investments to return 5% on 1.5 million dollars to break even on its current cost. The average yearly cost for the care taker alone ranges between $10k-$20k/yr. The average life span of an Alzheimer’s patient is 5-10 years. The caretaker and Alzheimer’s patient can expect to spend a minimum of $200,000 dollars prior to their death. My program has a cost range of $3000-$5000 one time expense. It is not covered by insurance but it will produce the greatest potential return on your investment.

None of this takes into consideration the tremendous emotional and mental strain the caretaker is under. This is really where the rubber hits the road. He caretaker is typically the children of the parents. If this describes you then you are the primary target of this information. Not only for your parent but for yourself. Retirement is just around the corner and dreams can slip away fast if you do not become proactive and informed of the alternatives.