Dementia in USA

A new study came out warning of the costs of dementia in the USA:

The most rigorous study to date of how much it costs to care for Americans with dementia found that the financial burden is at least as high as that of heart disease or cancer, and is probably higher. And both the costs and the number of people with dementia will more than double within 30 years, skyrocketing at a rate that rarely occurs with a chronic disease…

The RAND results show that nearly 15 percent of people aged 71 or older, about 3.8 million people, have dementia. By 2040, the authors said, that number will balloon to 9.1 million people.

“I don’t know of any other disease predicting such a huge increase,” said Dr. Richard J. Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging, which financed the study. “And as we have the baby boomer group maturing, there are going to be more older people with fewer children to be informal caregivers for them, which is going to intensify the problem even more.”

The study found that direct health care expenses for dementia, including nursing home care, were $109 billion in 2010. For heart disease, those costs totaled $102 billion; for cancer, $77 billion…Researchers project that the total costs of dementia care will more than double by 2040, to a range of $379 billion to $511 billion, from $159 billion to $215 billion in 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/04/health/dementia-care-costs-are-soaring-study-finds.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Nearly one in five of us boomers will develop Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of dementia in our lifetime. If that’s not scary enough, researchers have put a staggering figure on the diseases’ financial burden…Dementia is a progressive brain disease that causes severe memory loss and confusion. It interferes with people’s daily living skills, and eventually, they may become unable to care for themselves. http://blog.aarp.org/2013/04/03/cost-of-dementia-tops-157-billion/

I would add that the personal costs to one’s life and how dementia affects a family are higher than the staggering financial cost. As far as the financial cost, it looks like one more burden that will contribute to the increased debt of the USA.

Here is how one dictionary defines dementia:

de·men·tia (d-mnsh)n.

1. Deterioration of intellectual faculties, such as memory, concentration, and judgment, resulting from an organic disease or a disorder of the brain. It is sometimes accompanied by emotional disturbance and personality changes.

2. Madness; insanity.

According to dictionary.com the word dementia comes from a Latin word meaning madness:

Origin:
1800–10; < Latin dēmentia madness, equivalent to dēment- out of one’s mind (see dement) + -ia noun suffix.

Dementia seems to be a curse from a biblical perspective:

15 “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

16 “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country…

28 The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. (Deuteronomy 28:15-16, 28)

Note: I am not saying that all who get dementia have intentionally violated God’s laws, etc. But what I am trying to say is that dementia and costs associated with it are consistent with curses against a society that should know God’s laws but refuses to obey God.

Some articles of related interest may include:

Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, English, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo (non-Dutch) Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? What will happen to Jerusalem and the Jews in Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first?
Will the Anglo-Nations be Divided and Have People Taken as Slaves? Will the lands of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand be divided? What about Jerusalem? What does Bible prophecy teach? Are there non-biblical prophecies that support this idea? Who will divide those lands? Who will end up with the lands and the people? Here is a link to a video titled Will the USA and other Anglo-nations be Divided and Their People Made Slaves?
The Ten Commandments Reflect Love, Breaking them is Evil Some feel that the ten commandments are a burden. Is that what Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, and John taught?
Was the Commandment to Love the Only Command? Some have stated that John’s writings teach this, but is that what the Bible really says?
The Ten Commandments and the Early Church Did Jesus and the Early Church keep the ten commandments? What order were they in? Here are quotes from the Bible and early writings.