Paco Martorell

Monetary Costs of Dementia in the United States

BACKGROUND Dementia affects a large and growing number of older adults in the United States. The monetary costs attributable to dementia are likely to be similarly large and to continue to increase. METHODS In a subsample (856 persons) of the population in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative longitudinal study of older adults, the diagnosis of dementia was determined with the use of a detailed in-home cognitive assessment that was 3 to 4 hours in duration and a review by an expert panel. We then imputed cognitive status to the full HRS sample (10,903 persons, 31,936 person-years) on the basis of measures of cognitive and functional status available for all HRS respondents, thereby identifying persons in the larger sample with a high probability of dementia. The market costs associated with care for persons with dementia were determined on the basis of self-reported out-of-pocket spending and the utilization of nursing home care; Medicare claims data were used to identify costs paid by Medicare. Hours of informal (unpaid) care were valued either as the cost of equivalent formal (paid) care or as the estimated wages forgone by informal caregivers. RESULTS The estimated prevalence of dementia among persons older than 70 years of age in the United States in 2010 was 14.7%. The yearly monetary cost per person that was attributable to dementia was either

Help or Hindrance? The Effects of College Remediation on Academic and Labor Market Outcomes

56,290 (95% confidence interval [CI],

The Signaling Value of a High School Diploma

42,746 to

Dementia and out-of-pocket spending on health care services

69,834) or

Race and Gender Effects on Employer Interest in Job Applicants: New Evidence from a Resume Field Experiment

41,689 (95% CI,

Cash Incentives and Military Enlistment, Attrition, and Reenlistment

31,017 to

Does Failing a Placement Exam Discourage Underprepared Students from Going to College

52,362), depending on the method used to value informal care. These individual costs suggest that the total monetary cost of dementia in 2010 was between

The Academic Effects of Summer Instruction and Retention in New York City

157 billion and

Do Public Tuition Subsidies Promote College Enrollment? Evidence from Community College Taxing Districts in Texas

215 billion. Medicare paid approximately

Deployment, Reenlistment Intentions, and Actual Reenlistment: Single and Married Active-Component Service Members

11 billion of this cost. CONCLUSIONS Dementia represents a substantial financial burden on society, one that is similar to the financial burden of heart disease and cancer. (Funded by the National Institute on Aging.).