ORLANDO, Fla. – As baby boomers head for retirement, population experts have warned Americans to brace for what they call a “silver tsunami.” But that tsunami could pose a special danger to Florida – because of Alzheimer’s disease.
Today, an estimated 500,000 Floridians have Alzheimer’s disease, but that number is expected to grow 40 percent by 2025, according to a recent report from the Alzheimer’s Association, a national nonprofit agency dedicated to research on the disease.
That would give Florida more Alzheimer’s patients than all but one other state – California. And it will make Florida ground zero for the coming Alzheimer’s wave.
The reasons are simple, say advocates for the elderly.
“We have more old people (than other states) and old people are living longer. The number one risk factor for Alzheimer’s is age,” said Mary Ellen Grant, director of Share the Care, an Orlando day care facility for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.
At age 65, 1 in 10 people has Alzheimer’s. But by age 85, almost half of Americans have the disease.
Nationally, there are about 5.3 million Americans with Alzheimer’s today, and experts predict that number will triple by 2050. The cost of their care to Medicare and Medicaid was about $170 billion last year. By 2050, experts estimate their care will cost $800 billion a year.
Beyond the cost to taxpayers, Alzheimer’s disease is devastating to families, said David Morgan, CEO and director of the Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute at the University of Southern Florida. Businesses lose money to Alzheimer’s, too, he said, because employees who try to juggle caregiving with work often miss time and sometimes have to leave the work force.
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