COST DRIVERS | hot topic
CHRONIC DISEASE, DRIVING H E A LT H C A R E COSTS by Mikel Chavers When it comes to expensive chronic diseases driving health care costs, the issue gets very personal with Alabama Sen. Vivian Davis Figures. That’s because her mother is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and her mother-inlaw died with Alzheimer’s disease. As the co-chair of The Council of State Governments Health Policy Task Force, Figures shared her personal connection with the costly disease at CSG’s annual meeting in November. And although she said she won’t let the fear of potentially developing Alzheimer’s dictate her life, it seems the disease does dictate ever-rising health care costs, according to some experts. But Alzheimer’s isn’t the only thing driving health care costs.
Chronic Diseases Expensive
JAN./FEB. 2010
Photo: Lorena Ros/Getty Images
»
THE COSTS OF CHRONIC DISEASE AFFECT FAMILIES ST. LOUIS, MO—Grace Kidwell, 78, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the spring of 2006 and her husband John was diagnosed with leukemia in December 2006. The couple’s son, Tim, in the background, cares for his parents, who live in an apartment close to his home. Caring for his parents became a full-time job for Tim, who quit his job to care for his parents.
25 CAPITOL IDEAS
Alzheimer’s costs $148 billion in health care every year, said Stephen Geist, regional director for the California Southland Alzheimer’s Association. That means someone will be diagnosed with the disease every 70 seconds— and that’s going to be an increasing burden for states to bear. Geist said states—particularly in the Northwest—will experience an estimated 81 to 127 percent increase in Alzheimer’s cases in the next 15 years. Yet only 11 states have a state Alzheimer’s plan, according to Geist. That’s not to mention the 9.9 million unpaid caregivers that often foot the bill to care for
