Until the 1 in 3 Seniors With Alzheimer's or Other Dementia Dies that Patient’s Care will cost the U.S. a bundle
From an article by Pauline Anderson on Mar 21, 2013 in Medscape Medical News > Neurology Ref.:< http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/781180>
THIS GROWING ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE CRISIS COULD BANKRUPT THE COUNTRY!
"Unfortunately, today there are no Alzheimer's survivors. If you have Alzheimer's disease, you either die from it or die with it," said Harry Johns, president and CEO of the Alzheimer's Association, in a press release. “Urgent meaningful action is necessary “"Urgent, meaningful action is necessary, particularly as more and more people age into greater risk for developing a disease that today has no cure and no way to slow or stop its progression." It is noted that,AD is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. Alzheimer's disease (AD) kills at a relentless rate, and the absence of a cure and an aging population are contributing to a worsening health care crisis, the new Alzheimer's Association 2013 Facts and Figures Report.
The new statistics are clear proof of a growing crisis, the authors say. In 2010, 83,494 Americans died of AD. Among 70-year-olds with AD, 61% are expected to die within a decade, but among 70-year-olds without AD, only 30% will die within a decade. Today, more than 5 million are living with the disease, including an estimated 200,000 under age 65 years. This growing AD crisis could bankrupt the country. In 2013, the direct costs of caring for those with AD will total about $203 billion. Unless something is done, AD will cost an estimated $1.2 trillion (in today's dollars) by 2050, and costs to Medicare and Medicaid will increase over 500%, the report notes.
The devastation of AD takes a huge toll not only on those with the disease but also on their loved ones and caregivers and those Caregivers incur billions in additional healthcare costs of their own since the care stress is formidable. In 2013, the direct costs of caring for those with AD will total about $203 billion. Unless something is done, AD will cost an estimated $1.2 trillion (in today's dollars) by 2050, and costs to Medicare and Medicaid will increase over 500%.
However, a recent scientific research report indicates : “Promising New Targets Identified in Early AD” . This report indicates that, “A soluble “oligomer”, that's so tiny it's invisible even under a microscope but can be diffuse throughout the brain, may be A MORE PROMISING TARGET THAN AMYLOID PLAQUE FOR FUTURE DRUG TRIALS IN ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE (AD), a new study suggests. Ref:
• Readers of this Diary can choose to ignore thate word “oligomer” because the significance of that statement, IMO, lies in the phrase “Future Drug Trials”, not some strange name and it is that RESEARCH toward a cure for AD ,it seems to me, that holds the promise for dealing with the aspects of both the disease and the described incipient financial crises.
Enter now, THE SEQUESTER and its potential for adverse effects on the very research that will eventually lead to a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease at best or, a modification of that disease which may allow for a reduction in the the cost of the care for the disease. Indeed…”Sequestration” will take big bite from medical research funding.
Note that National Institute of Health (NIH), the world's largest supporter of biomedical research, will lose $1.6 billion of its $30-billion budget through the sequester.
March 21, 2013|By Alana Semuels and Adolfo Flores, Los Angeles Times
In addition to affecting White House tours, sequestration could lead to not only Research into Alzheimer's disease but also cancer and influenza losing crucial funding even as “Scientists say they are on the cusp of medical breakthroughs”.
Deep federal budget cuts, known as sequestration, could lead to diminished funding for medical and scientific research, making some scientists question whether they should stay in the United States. Indeed, if the cuts continue, scientists said, the United States could see promising graduate students going to countries investing heavily in scientific research.
With the human genome sequenced and fast computers at their fingertips, scientists say that research is moving more quickly than ever before. Which means the reduction in federal funding comes at a particularly bad time.
"It is a paradoxical thing that we are both at a time of remarkable and almost unprecedented scientific opportunity, and we're also at a time in the United States of unprecedented threats to the momentum of scientific progress," said Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.
Sequestration, which went into effect March 1 after Congress failed to reach a budget compromise, cuts $85 billion across government departments, agencies and programs.
The NIH, which will lose $1.6 billion of its $30-billion budget through the sequester, is the world's largest supporter of biomedical research, funding $2 billion in programs at the University of California system alone. Ref: http://articles.latimes.com/...
It is said (though not true) that “Nero fiddled while Rome burned” and in my opinion the U.S. Congress is simply fiddling around politically while “Sequester” withholding of scientific research funding has the potential to bring about a financial burning up of America , in a metaphorical sense. This may well be our destiny... IF our Congress continues on a course of allowing the Alzheimers Disease financial costs to lead us down an ultimate path to America’s BANKRUPTCY by denying funding for scientific research.
Does anyone else find it to be ironic that, as I write this on this 2013 Easter Morning, Scientific Research into Alzheimers Disease has the potential to be a savior for America in this Alzheimer’s crisis and it is being denied by the “Sequester”.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/...
http://www.health.ny.gov/...
https://www.google.com/...