Question 3 Paragraph

Living with someone who has Alzheimer’s disease is hard and paying for it is getting even harder. The Alzheimer’s Association has “estimated [that the disease will cost] $200 billion in 2012” (Rochman). Rising care costs have a big effect on families. Financial problems can bring a family down when “the average lifetime cost of caring for an Alzheimer’s patient is $174,000” (“Rising”). Some people don’t have that kind of money to take care of their family member(s). Even though health insurance companies such as “Medicare and Medicaid [that] together pay for 70%, or $140 billion, of the cost of Alzheimer’s disease” (Rochman) the family still has to pitch in a little bit and that can be difficult. It becomes even more difficult when the family caring for the patient doesn’t make enough money for their own family or has lost a job due to the state that the economy is currently in. Some people even “[give] up their job to devote themselves to caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s” (Rochman). The expenses that add up from caring for someone with Alzheimer’s can be challenging to keep up with and “as people live longer, the cases of Alzheimer's disease is [going] to skyrocket, almost doubling every 20 years” (Pickett).