Per-Person Medicare & Medicaid Costs $24,465 For First 5 Years After Alzheimer’s-Type Diagnosis

In the first five years after a diagnosis with an Alzheimer’s-type dementia, Medicare costs averaged $15,632 per person and Medicaid costs averaged $8,833 per person. The statistics were based on an analysis of the national Health and Retirement Study for 1992 through 2015, Medicare data for the same period, and Medicaid fee-for-service claims for 1999 through 2012.

The average incremental costs by payer were grouped into three main service types: inpatient care, prescription drugs, and skilled nursing facility (SNF) and home health. Over time, inpatient costs declined for Medicare and Medicaid. Prescription drug costs . . .