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Report: Alzheimer's costs could balloon by 2025

A new report says Delaware will see Medicaid costs from Alzheimer's disease increase by more than 50 percent over the next decade.

That report from the Alzheimer's Association says every state will see some increase in coming years, with more than half of states seeing increases over 40 percent.

Delaware is spending more than 10 percent of its Medicaid budget on patients with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia this year -- at $195 million. That's set to increase to just over $300 million by 2025.

People with Alzheimer's rely on Medicaid three times as much as other seniors due to the length of time they suffer from the disease, according to the report. And 75 percent of them will be admitted to a nursing home by age 80, compared with just four percent of everyone else.

The association's Delaware executive director is Katie Macklin. She says in a statement that Delaware needs to work quickly to increase awareness and research of Alzheimer's and build out long-term care services.

 

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated Katie Macklin's title. She is the Alzheimer Association's executive director for Delaware.

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