Cure Alzheimer's Fund Cure Alzheimer's Fund

Alzheimer’s disease places an enormous psychological and emotional burden on patients and caregivers; it also places tremendous financial strain on families and healthcare systems.

The Cost of Alzheimer’s Disease

  • According to the 2023 Alzheimer’s Facts and Figures Report, the total cost in the United States associated with Alzheimer’s disease for 2023 is estimated at $345 billion
  • Medicare and Medicaid are estimated to pay for $222 billion of the costs
  • Out-of-pocket spending by patients, their families, and their caregivers will pay for the remaining $123 billion.
  • The average annual out-of-pocket costs (to care) for older adults with Alzheimer’s and other dementias are four times higher than costs for people without those conditions ($10,241 versus $2,500)
  • And, health care costs increase with the presence of dementia

Other statistics include:

 

  • People with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias have twice as many hospital stays per year as people of the same age. Those with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias who receive medicare benefits are more likely than those without dementia to have other chronic conditions.
  • Total per-person health care and long-term care payments in 2020 for Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias were over 3X as great as payments for other Medicare beneficiaries ($43,445 vs $14,593.)

“Recent studies show that the cost of caring for Americans with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias has surpassed the cost of treatment for cancer patients or victims of heart disease. And these costs are virtually certain to go up. While the deaths from some cancers and heart disease are declining, the number of Alzheimer’s cases continues to increase every year as the population grows older.”

These costs have been growing steadily and will continue to increase as the Baby Boomer population ages.

The Disease