Study looks at the overwhelming cost of dementia care in senior homes

ATLANTA -- Thousands of families with loved ones who have dementia have turned to senior care homes for help, and a new study from Georgia State University details the heavy financial toll that care in these facilities can place on those with the condition.

The paper, which was done in conjunction with researchers from the University of Washington and the University of California San Francisco, found that the median adult with dementia in residential facilities — such as assisted living centers — spent 97% of their monthly income on long-term care. In nursing homes, which can get Medicaid-support, people with dementia spent nearly 83% of their monthly income.

“Because dementia is such an expensive illness, it really is in a category of its own when we start to think about funding for long-term care,” said senior author Jalayne Arias, associate professor in the GSU School of Public Health. “Our study shows that if you compare people with dementia to their age-matched counterparts, they experience costs that are untenable to manage.”

The analysis found that the average monthly out-of-pocket fee was $3,090 for people in non-nursing home residential care such as assisted living facilities and $3,849 for people with dementia in nursing homes. Older adults without dementia paid roughly $2,801 for non-nursing home residential care and $2,176 for nursing home residents.

The paper, which analyzed data from a national sample of over 4,500 adults over 70, is said to be the first to compare out-of-pocket expenses by dementia status and care setting. It was published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA) in October.

As America’s population is aging...