{"id":205,"date":"2017-04-21T19:31:33","date_gmt":"2017-04-21T19:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sfsdlaw.com\/?p=205"},"modified":"2017-08-25T19:32:12","modified_gmt":"2017-08-25T19:32:12","slug":"an-alzheimers-tsunami-is-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfsdlaw.com\/2017\/04\/21\/an-alzheimers-tsunami-is-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"An Alzheimers Tsunami is Coming"},"content":{"rendered":"

Warning: An Alzheimer’s Tsunami is Coming and We Must Prepare<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the message from Andrew Tisch, chairman of Loews Corporation, co-founder of the political reform group No Labels, and Vice Chair of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.<\/p>\n

In a recent article, Mr. Tisch describes how we are unprepared for the enormous costs we will soon be facing from a huge upswing in our aging population and the resulting number of
\nAlzheimer\u2019s patients.<\/p>\n

As he points out, in 2010 there were 11.4 million Americans over the age of 80. By the year
\n2050, due to the power of modern medicine, there will be over 32 million. But amid that laudable success is a glaring problem: One in two people who reach their 80s will get Alzheimer\u2019s, and the American health care system isn\u2019t even remotely prepared to deal with that.<\/p>\n

The annual cost to care for people with Alzheimer\u2019s and other dementias is already $226 billion, with Medicare and Medicaid picking up 68% of the costs. If recent trends continue, he states, the annual cost of Alzheimer\u2019s could reach $1 trillion, in current dollars, by 2050, costing Medicare and Medicaid almost $700 billion\u2014about one-fifth of the federal government\u2019s current budget.<\/p>\n

Mr. Tisch calls for Washington to dramatically increase the amount of federal money going to
\nAlzheimer\u2019s research. While disease research of all kinds is worthy and important, he states,
\nAlzheimer\u2019s stands apart for the destruction it wreaks on families and finances. Five million
\nAmericans currently have Alzheimer\u2019s and the disease\u2019s impact spreads far beyond those who have it. Every person with Alzheimer\u2019s requires three people\u2014children, spouses, friends and health care workers\u2014to serve as caregivers. This can be a full-time job, and it often takes a financial, emotional and physical toll on the caregivers and their families.<\/p>\n

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) allocated almost $1 billion to Alzheimer\u2019s research last year, but funding is behind what researchers need and what other diseases already receive. The treatments available now only treat symptoms and do not prevent, slow or reverse the disease.
\nResearchers believe a significant boost in funding could lead to breakthroughs in the coming years. Dr. Greg Petsko of Weill Cornell Medical College states that \u201cif NIH doubled research funding for Alzheimer\u2019s tomorrow, it would kick the whole machinery of grant making and academic and pharmaceutical company research into a higher gear.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Trump\u2019s budget proposal includes an 18% cut to the NIH budget as part of a broader effort to slash discretionary spending. However, a bipartisan group of a dozen senators have written a letter to President Trump asking him to increase funding for Alzheimer\u2019s research. As
\nMr. Tisch puts it, a potential cure for Alzheimer\u2019s should not go undiscovered for lack of a few billion dollars in a $4 trillion-dollar annual budget.<\/p>\n

If you or a loved one is facing the devastation of dementia, Alzheimer\u2019s or some other debilitating disease it may be time to seek long term care.\u00a0 When you are concerned about running out of money, give me a call,<\/p>\n

Doug Thesenvitz
\n605-334-9448
\ndoug@siouxfallsestateplanning.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Warning: An Alzheimer’s Tsunami is Coming and We Must Prepare That\u2019s the message from Andrew Tisch, chairman of Loews Corporation, co-founder of the political reform group No Labels, and Vice Chair of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. In a recent article, Mr. Tisch describes how we are unprepared for the enormous costs we will soon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfsdlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfsdlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfsdlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfsdlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfsdlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sfsdlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfsdlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfsdlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfsdlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}