Poll shows Alzheimer’s is taking its toll on Americans

Many Americans are feeling the brunt of paying for the care of a loved one with Alzheimer’s.

Five million Americans have been diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s. A new survey says the cost for families trying to care for those patients is starting to mount.

“Nearly half of the people in our survey reported spending $20,000 a year for caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s,” said Andy Cohen, the CEO of Caring.com, which conducted the survey.

He said that about 28 percent of Arizona respondents say they pay between $10,000 and $20,000 a year, but a higher number pay more.

“In Arizona specifically, a third were spending more than $30,000-per-year,” Cohen said.

That’s about the same as the national average. Twenty-two percent of people from Arizona who responded to the poll said they spend less than $5,000 a year. Eleven percent said they paid between $5,000 and $9,000 a year. Five percent didn’t know how much they spend.

In addition to the amount of money spent on care, Cohen said that those families are also affected in other ways.

“97 percent of the people (who answered the poll nationwide) reported a strain or relationships,” said Cohen. “76 percent said that their well-being was affected, and 55 percent said their physical health had declined. So, whether it’s a physical cost or a financial cost, there’s a high cost of Alzheimer’s care that’s hard to avoid.”

Cohen said that one advantage Arizona has over the other states is that while there are more elderly people here, there are more places to care for them, so Arizonans have more of a choice on where to get help for those with Alzheimer’s.