As President-elect Donald Trump continues his transition, Alzheimer’s doctors are bracing for his promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Americans over the age of 65 have their medical care covered by Medicare, so it would seem that seniors with Alzheimer’s disease are unlikely to feel the impact of the repeal of “Obamacare.”
Not so, Penn Memory Center Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish wrote in a column for Forbes.
The nation’s older adults — especially those with a neurodegenerative disease — depend daily on caregivers, often their own children who depend on the ACA for insurance when they reduce working hours in favor of increased caregiving hours.
Additionally, the ACA created initiatives to improve care in hospitals, long-term care settings, and the community. One such initiative was Medicare’s annual wellness visit.
“Each year, an older adult receives assessments of such essential functions as his or her vision, hearing, weight, and, yes, cognition. This yearly “brain check-up” signals to America’s doctors they should attend to their patients’ cognitive health with the same keen attention paid to their physical health,” Karlawish wrote. “Repeal the ACA, and gone is this intervention that’s laying the groundwork for our capacity to screen for and prevent Alzheimer’s disease.”
Also on the chopping block are innovations in care that reduce the suffering caused by poor coordination of care.
Read the complete column at www.forbes.com.