The Department of Health and Human Services recently made adjustments to the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease. These adjustments are part of an effort to understand the importance of caregiving for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients within assisted living facilities and similar care settings.

Patients in Assisted Living Facilities  

In the initial text of the plan, assisted living facilities were not included in the list of care settings. The recent update addresses this type of facility as a separate long term care setting and details a new concentration on its patients.

According to the updated text, the new component of the plan “will include an in-depth analysis of the National Survey of Residential Care Facilities to better understand the level of cognitive impairment among residents and the types of services provided in assisted living facilities.”

This new focus stresses the importance of caregivers and the huge effect their actions have upon Alzheimer’s and dementia patients. The department attributed the update to a top concern regarding the caregiver/patient relationship: the vulnerability of Alzheimer’s patients in care facilities. Often, caregivers are the people that patients spend the majority of their day with, so proper training is necessary to ensure the patient/caregiver relationship remains a positive one.

HHS stated that “the results of these studies will be used to identify areas that the National Plan should address in future years.”

Background of Plan

The National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA) was signed into law by President Obama in January 2011 in an effort to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s disease and discover new methods of prevention and treatment. One section of the bill called for the creation of a National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease, which would set out the specific goals and implementation system of the policies.

The plan was introduced a year and a half later, in May of 2012, and outlined the administration’s goals regarding funding, research, and public outreach for Alzheimer’s disease.

While the plan represents an important step in our nation’s long term care planning, it comes relatively late. Other countries began to specifically address Alzheimer’s years ago, including France in 2001. Nevertheless, it is good news that the government has begun to take the long term care crisis more seriously.

Personal Plan

Although the government is researching ways to address the increasing issue of Alzheimer’s across the country, a comprehensive solution is not yet in sight. This makes it necessary for people to begin planning for their own potential long term care needs.

Alzheimer’s is one of the most common reasons people need long term care, and the services required for dementia patients are often time consuming and costly. Without some form of financial planning, most people end up exhausting their assets paying for care.

Long Term Care Insurance offers reliable coverage options for those looking to protect their health and assets from the high risk that they may need long term care. Nursing homes cost upwards of $80,000 a year, rendering paying out of pocket extremely unaffordable for most people. Assisted living facilities and in-home care are cheaper, but still costly, at around $50,000 a year. Unlike your regular health care or Medicare, a Long Term Care Insurance policy will help cover those high costs and save you the hassle of dealing with the financial stress.

If you are interested in a free quote or just have questions about how Long Term Care Insurance works, call us today at 1-800-800-6139 or fill out our online form.