Dementia diagnosis doubles out-of-pocket health care costs

PatientEngagementHIT (10/17, Heath) reports, “A dementia diagnosis is going to cost you, with new data from the University of Michigan showing that individual personal wealth dropped after a diagnosis while out-of-pocket health care costs nearly doubled.” Published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the data “showed personal wealth decreasing from around $79,000 at diagnosis to $58,000 two years after. Meanwhile, out-of-pocket health care costs soared from $4,000 at diagnosis to $8,000 after a dementia diagnosis.” As time wore on, the trend continued: “after eight years, people with dementia saw their wealth drop to an average of $30,500 and had spent twice as much as their peers on health care expenses.”

Related Links:

— “Out-of-Pocket Healthcare Costs Double with Dementia Diagnosis,” Sara Heath, PatientEngagementHIT , October 17, 2023

Posted in In The News.