If you live past 55 years old, your odds of developing dementia are 42% And we will have an aging population, which will be entirely dependent on care.
Older generations have been surprisingly effective at keeping a decent portion of the welfare system. They are gonna need all that money for government research, elite hospitals, and big Pharma to find a solution
Right now, there are over 7.4 million Americans actively living with clinical Alzheimerās by 2050. According to a massive 2025 study from NYU Langone, this is expected to double.
As of 2026, the cost of caring for these people is 409 billion every single year.
By 2050, this is expected to be $1 trillion and an annual healthcare spending
Medicare and Medicaid were forced to foot over 75% of this cost.
And that doesn't even account for the $446 billion in āunpaid laborā provided by 12 million family members acting as full-time caregivers.
Now we know, Medicare and Medicaid have a lot of fraud, but thereās still a significant number of people who are truly providing home healthcare.
The US government is funding the BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Act** (Building Our Largest Dementia Infrastructure).
For the 2026 fiscal year, Congress approved a massive budget increase, pushing total **NIH and National Institute on Aging (NIA)** annual research funding to a staggering **$3.9 billion**.
Health and Human Services (HHS), alongside the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense, are treating cognitive decline as a direct threat to national healthcare stability.
For decades, drugs like *Aricept (donepezil)* and *Namenda (memantine)* only masked symptoms. Today, big pharma is trying to alter the actual biology of the disease.
There are FDA-approved drugs to treat or prevent Alzheimerās, like Leqembi (lecanemab) developed by Eisai and Biogen.
This treatment costs $27,000 per year, requires bi-weekly intravenous infusions, and carries a 30% risk of ARIAāAmyloid-Related Imaging Abnormalitiesāwhich is medical speak for brain swelling or micro-bleeds.
Eli Lilly's Kisunla (donanemab) does the strange thing but allows patients to stop infusions once their plaque levels drop below a certain threshold.
Medicare refuses to routinely cover these $27,000-a-year drugs under standard rules unless your doctor can get you on CED coverage and Evidentiary Development
There are likely important dietary changes that could prevent the progression of age-related neuronal decay,
But I believe the US government should pursue open access to these Alzheimer's drugs
The medical industry and pharmacy benefits managers are notorious for price gouging and charging prices that are 100 times more than the actual cost
When things like Alzheimerās and cancer are being debated, we need accessible solutions.