Our Real Medicaid Cost Problem

Dementia

1 in 9 senior citizens has dementia.  For all but a few, with either resources or sufficient long term care insurance, the only end result will be spending down their wealth and going on Medicaid.

Right now Dementia absorbs roughly $150 billion a year from Medicare (I'm not sure how that is actually) and Medicaid (I do know how this happens).  We spend a total of $772 billion on Medicare and Medicaid, so Dementia is responsible for 19.4% of Medicare and Medicaid spending.  And senior represent only 9% of those covered by Medicaid.

So when states complain about the ever increasing cost of Medicaid, they are implying that is the poor who in their minds are lazy and shiftless.  But in reality they are just poor and generally younger and healthier and cheaper to cover for what medical needs they have.  It is Dementia that is out of control, has no solution other than euthanasia which every conservative and most everybody else are  adamantly against.

We examined our living wills to see if we could withhold water at some point if we had dementia and found out that no matter what our living will says, NY State law forbids the withholding of water from anyone, no matter what their physical or mental condition.

I don't have a solution for Dementia, but I think some honesty in policy discussions about where Medicaid is really seeing its cost spiral out of control is a necessity if we are to have a rational policy that balances medical care with the cost.