The odds that you’ll have Alzheimer’s disease are 1 in 8, according to the “2012 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures” (Alzheimer’s Association:225 N. Michigan Ave., Fl. 17 Chicago, IL 60601-7633).  An estimated 5.4 million Americans currently have Alzheimer’s, 5.2 million of whom are over 65.  And your odds increase to 1 in 2 if you live to age 85.  As the sixth leading cause of death in theUnited States, this tragic disease currently costs over $200 Billion to treat, and that annual cost is expected to rise to $1.1 TRILLION by 2050!

Where will all that money come from?  Medicare and Medicaid pay for 70% of the current annual cost, and over 15 million Americans provide unpaid care for a person with Alzheimer’s or other dementias.  With each passing year, government funds will become increasingly insufficient to cover this staggering expense, leaving the burden of care on family and friends.  And tragically, even today 800,000 people with Alzheimer’s live alone and as many as half of them have NO caregiver.  We can only imagine how that number will soar with each passing year.

So what’s the answer?  The good news is that “cognitive impairment” is a valid basis for a claim on all long-term care insurance (LTCi) policies.  So if this tragedy strikes you and you have purchased such a policy, your LTCi will take the burden off of the US government as well as your family and friends.  The choice is yours…