Alzheimer’s patients typically survive from four to ten years after the onset of the illness, the cost of their care to families and society is immense, financially as well as emotionally. With about five and a half million Americans living with Alzheimer’s, the total cost for their health care, including long-term care and hospice services, has surpassed the quarter-trillion mark: $259 billion.4 (For comparison, that is about $100 billion more than the cost of care for people with all cancers combined.)
