Coping With the Costs of Dementia

Dec. 2, 2015 – If you are caring for someone with dementia, you know that it’s a uniquely devastating disease. Dementia robs you of the person you love. It attacks memory, personality, language, and physical abilities. It can last for years, even decades. And it has no cure.

The financial toll can be nearly as large as the personal loss. Over the last five years of life, the average out-of-pocket cost of care for dementia patients was 81% higher than for people without dementia, according to a new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Nearly half of the dementia patients ended up on Medicaid, the government health care program for impoverished Americans.

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