Alzheimer’s disease projected to bankrupt Medicare

by: | July 19, 2016
Alzheimer’s disease projected to bankrupt Medicare
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(NaturalHealth365) By 2050, the Alzheimer’s Association estimates that 13.8 million Americans will be suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. That prediction will have a devastating effect on families and caregivers who will be affected by this growing health crisis.  In fact, one of the biggest problems linked to Alzheimer’s is rarely mentioned in the media.

Current costs for Alzheimer’s care and other forms of dementia hovers at around $226 billion, with about 68 percent of that cost placed on Medicare and Medicaid.  With the number afflicted likely to climb to nearly 14 million (very soon), that financial burden is expected to surge to an astounding $1.1 trillion.  The result?  You guessed it – Medicare bankruptcy!

Don’t become a medical statistic.  Register now for the Alzheimer’s and Dementia Summit and find out how to prevent, even reverse the signs of dementia – safely and effectively.

Economic damage remains the untold story of Alzheimer’s disease

The human pain and suffering brought about by the growing Alzheimer’s epidemic is a reality that demands urgent solutions. Not only is an aging baby boomer population adding to the sheer number of cases, but researchers and the medical community believe that other factors are at play as well, including genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors.

But the story that remain woefully untold is the financial toll the epidemic is taking, perhaps because it seems inappropriate to bring up economics when referring to life and death issues.  Uncomfortable as the subject may be, all of the political discussions over how long Medicare and Medicaid can be sustained and under what circumstances may soon become a moot point.

The only real solution to the economic devastation this epidemic will take is to reduce the frequency of Alzheimer’s in the first place.  But, what makes this process difficult is the narrow-minded focus on pharmaceutical solutions (which will never work) and ‘high-tech therapies’ that continue to block the discovery of less expensive treatment options within the field of integrative medicine.

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Brain research is looking in the wrong direction and wasting too much money

Despite being identified as the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Alzheimer’s disease research receives relatively few resources for prevention and treatment compared to other chronic diseases. In fact, current federal research funding is less than $600 million annually.

Experts point out that this figure comes up critically short in meeting the estimated $2 billion annually that respected scientists in the field have determined will be necessary in order to achieve the Alzheimer’s Association 2025 goal for prevention and effective treatment. If that goal is met, the Association estimates that costs will be reduced by $220 billion over the first five years and $367 billion in 2050 alone. Medicare and Medicaid programs would be expected to reap 60 percent of those savings.

Some good news: Researchers continue to make progress in preventing and treating this disease. For example, recent scientific developments have suggested there is a common link among all forms of dementia, a type of “misfolded” protein that is toxic to brain cells. There has also been advancement in diagnostic tools – which can predict the risk of Alzheimer’s disease years before symptoms arise.

But there is still much more to be learned than has been discovered. One of the challenges is to end the misconception that memory loss and dementia is a normal part of the aging process. The other hurdle is to stop the never-ending narrow focus on amyloid plaque as the ‘only reason’ for Alzheimer’s.  Big pharma keeps looking for a drug that will cure dementia.  But, drugs will NOT fix this problem.

If the Alzheimer’s epidemic is to be stopped – we MUST have a holistic approach.  It starts by realizing that a ‘sick brain’ resides inside a sick body.  We must look at ways to reduce inflammation; eliminate infections; detoxify the body; improve the diet plus so much more.  An integrative approach – individualized for each patient – is the only way to go.

Get INSTANT access to the Alzheimer’s and Dementia Summit and find out how to prevent and even reverse the signs of dementia – before it’s too late.

References:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-coming-alzheimers-emergency/2015/07/24/2735f6bc-3240-11e5-8f36-18d1d501920d_story.html

https://www.alz.org/facts

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