An aging population is going to cost the U.S. more — with a lot of that cost going to pay for the treatment and care of neurological diseases. And the country already forks over $800 billion a year for such conditions as Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, migraines, epilepsy and spinal cord injury.

A Huffington Post report says in order to understand how vast that number is, it’s more than $100 billion higher than the amount the U.S. spends on its entire military budget.

A study published in the journal Annals of Neurology says that $800 billion figure includes the total cost of the nine most common neurological diseases, but researchers also note that the total costs related to the more than 1,000 known diseases of the nervous system would be much higher.

And here’s the thing: older adults are disproportionately affected by neurological disorders. So, as the country ages — the population of seniors will double by 2050 — the costs will go up. Exponentially.

“The extraordinary rise in the total cost for neurological disease is first due to the dramatic increase in the number of people in the U.S. over the age of 65, who are especially susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s,” Dr. Clifton Gooch, a neurologist at the University of South Florida and the study’s lead author, is quoted saying in the report.

Gooch adds, “Ironically, the gift of older age for most of Americans now brings the risk of debilitating neurological diseases for which no adequate treatment exists, and the cost of that care will shortly rise to levels high enough to destabilize the healthcare system and damage the economy.”

And it’s not just treatment. The study’s authors say that labor and productivity are major contributing factors to the costs involved, because of disability. In fact, disability-related costs are higher for neurological diseases than for any other category of illness.

While funding for studies to treat neurological diseases might seem to be a natural effect of such a finding, that’s not the case; heart disease and cancer are far more prominent recipients of study funding, despite the fact that Alzheimer’s alone affects more than 5.3 million Americans. And this year, Alzheimer’s-related health care costs will rise above a quarter of a trillion dollars for the first time. By 2030, Alzheimer’s healthcare costs alone are expected to surpass $600 billion.

According to the report, a study by the Alzheimer’s Association projects the disease could eventually bankrupt Medicare.

Instant Insights /

Neurological diseases cost U.S. $800 billion annually &mdash; and rising

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Neurological diseases cost U.S. $800 billion annually — and rising