Cost Effective Alzheimer’s Prevention

Alzheimer’s is very common among the elderly. Nearly 4 million people in the US suffer from this disease. That is nearly 1 in 50 people.3 As legislators, you are not blind to this fact. Congress has spent millions in contribution for Alzheimer’s and the disease cost Medicare 31.9 billion dollars in 2000.2 I’m sure you or someone else you know suffers or has a relative that suffers from this disease. It’s obvious how terrible it can be emotionally and especially financially. Now, there is much being done to delay progression and even eliminate this disease, but is enough being done? There are simple ways that may help prevent or slow the progression of this disease. Not a cure, but prevention may help save the state, country, and the patient’s money. Programs providing mentally stimulating activities should be offered in all senior care facilities providing care to patients who may benefit from Alzheimer’s prevention.

Much is being done for Alzheimer’s. In fact, Medicare is already looking at a 54% increase in cost by the year 2010 for people with Alzheimer’s disease. Medicaid has a similar projection and is expected to increase nearly 15 billion dollars by the year 2010. However, many elderly patients qualify for Medicaid only after they have exhausted their savings on care, including drug costs, and Medicare may only pay for a portion of care.2 But honestly, is there really anything more the government can do to benefit Alzheimer’s, that they are not already doing?

A study released by the NIH (National Institute on Aging) followed over 700 dementia-free patients over the age of 65 for an average of four and one half years. The patients were initially tested for their baseline abilities. Researchers developed a scale that classified each patient based on their cognitive activity. Frequency of activity was placed on a scale of 1-5. Researchers found a direct relationship between cognitive activity and risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. For each one point increase one the 5 point scale of cognitive activity, there was a decreased risk of 33 percent. When someone with the highest activity was compared with someone with the lowest activity, there was a reduction of 47 percent in risk. Here, there is no additional money spent by the state or the patient in the prevention of this disease, and yet there was a 47 percent risk reduction when patients took part in elevated frequency of cognitive activities. These simple cognitive activities include reading, writing, puzzles, lecture/play attendance, games, memory exercises, being involved in the community, etc.1

As of just recently, 14.4% of Medicare costs are being donated to Alzheimer’s disease.2 This means roughly $15 out of every $100 spent by Medicare goes to fight Alzheimer’s proving that something is being done to help in the fight against this widespread epidemic, but when looking at this issue from all angles, decreasing long term care costs for individuals who suffer from this disease is very important when talking about how much money is spent on just Alzheimer’s alone. Cutting down Medicare spending and patient spending would be beneficial to both the patient and the state. The fraction of money it would cost tax paying voters to an option for seniors to take part in a program that would include a mandatory amount of these activities in their daily schedule would cut spending dramatically in the long term versus medical treatment and around the clock care. A 47 percent risk reduction or delaying the onset of disease in these patients would be very significantly beneficial.1 According to Stephen McConnell, vice president of the Alzheimer’s Association, “Even one month delay in nursing home placement is estimated to save $1 billion dollars a year.”2

Unfortunately, two well established risk factors are genetics and age for Alzheimer’s disease in patients over the age of 65 years old. In fact age is directly related to the prevalence of the disease. Ten percent of seniors over the age of 65 years suffer from the disease, and 50 percent of patients over the age of 85 have Alzheimer’s.4 Obviously these two risk factors can’t be controlled and the only way to care for them is through methods currently being used to fight Alzheimer’s (i.e. medical attention and around the clock care), but preventative measures may be taken to reduce the risk. Requiring, by law, senior care facilities to promote and optional program to promote seniors to take part in necessary cognitive activities can greatly reduce risk, according to the study presented by the NIH.1 Using the power given to us to benefit the healthcare system and patients seems to be very necessary.

Coincidentally, something has already being done by congress to decrease the incidence of, or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Endorsing higher education and raising standards with in public school education does its part to protect against early occurrence of the disease. According to the Alzheimer’s association, “Low levels of education have been found to be related to a higher risk of Alzheimer’s later in life”4, but what about the baby boomers? Many people from this generation have not had the privilege of being offered state of the art medication during their adolescence and early adulthood. As the baby boomers enter the age of highest risk, the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease will climb from 5.5 million to 14 million. McConnell states, “This imminent epidemic of Alzheimer’s disease threatens to bankrupt Medicare and Medicaid.”2

A significant amount of money is already being spent to fight the epidemic of Alzheimer’s disease. As we mentioned earlier Alzheimer’s occupies almost 15% of Medicare spending.2 As time proceeds into the future the population will be growing. Healthcare expenses will be rising and more preventative measures will have to be taken to cut costs. Specifically, Alzheimer’s patients will continue to cost us money especially at this point as the baby boomers progress into high risk ages. Simply requiring that senior care facilities include a certain amount of cognitive activity may have a great impact on Alzheimer’s patients and people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease. As stated earlier, studies show how effective increased cognitive activities can be for patients at high risk. Activities such reading, writing, puzzles, lecture/play attendance, games, memory exercises, being involved in the community, etc.1, will require minimal additional cost, but may decrease costs even if they decrease a patients time spent in a nursing home by one month. Time utilization is the issue for senior care facilities why legal requirements should pushed into effect. It is imperative that simple preventative measures such as this are taken to preserve time, money, and most importantly life.