Mandate Dementia and Alzheimer Long term Health Care Coverage under Medicare

[JustJen08 (Jennifer Krajnik)]

I’ve noticed elderly neighbors are having a hard time affording Long Term Health Care for aging spouses who suffer from Dementia with aggression. Watching them attempt to block and calm another who is suffering from these ailments that want to fight them on not taking medication, etc and watching how much it is wearing them down, as well as trying to sell everything they own not knowing how they will afford the $8,000.00 to $12,000.00 monthly fees for long term healthcare if they can even find them a bed/spot is ridiculous. These people are living off pensions and social security and there are no resources available to them. Medicaid will cover these services but they want to extract any living accommodation from the non ill spouse putting them in a position of homelessness in order to help the ailing spouse. The more I attempt to find help for the neighbor the more I realize there are not enough clear resources for the aging community. These are eventually going to be our grandparents or parents and at some point ourselves in this situation. I believe when someone is in the seventh or eighth decade of life they shouldn’t be faced with these burdensome financial cost since evidence leans towards ingested toxins in our food and environment causing said issues. Someone has to have a better idea on how to make care affordable or coverage better for this part of our community. I don’t believe this situation is unique to my neighbors and the elderly have a harder time accessing help online.