Medical Economics May 14, 2024
The Biden administration recently warned that Medicare could spend $3.5 billion on a new category of Alzheimer’s drugs in 2025 alone – a figure vastly higher than what experts in the field predict – leading many to question the math.
The experts are right to be skeptical. But they’re also missing the bigger picture.
Many are still framing this spending on Alzheimer’s treatments as a cost and a new one at that. Instead, we should look at this spending as an investment and recognize the extensive costs and burden Alzheimer’s exacts on the people afflicted, their caregivers and families, and the losses to society overall.
Slowing the progression of a debilitating, fatal disease in its earliest stages extends the time...