The $202 billion in unpaid care is on top of the $183 billion estimate for Alzheimer’s care expected to be delivered in 2011 by healthcare workers in homes, hospitals and long-term care facilities, an increase of $11 billion over a year ago.

Medicare and Medicaid, the federal insurance programs for the elderly and poor, cover about 70 percent of these costs.

Thies said Alzheimer’s patients on Medicare cost three times more than other patients, largely because they spend more time in hospitals and nursing homes. And Alzheimer’s patients on Medicaid, which pays for the bulk of long-term care, cost nine times more than other Medicaid patients.

“The federal government is really paying for Alzheimer’s research one way or another because the bulk of these people will be on Medicare or Medicaid,” Thies said.

By 2050, Medicare costs for people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias will increase nearly 600 percent and Medicaid costs will soar almost 400 percent.

The full report appears in the March 2011 issue of Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.

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By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO