Phyllis Shelton Challenges ABC Special on Alzheimer's

[Guest guest]

(from Alzheimer's Daily News)

Phyllis Shelton Challenges ABC Special on Alzheimer's

(Source: LTC Consultants) - Guests Shriver and Ann O'Leary ( Berkeley

Center for Health, Economic and Family Security) appeared Sunday to introduce

The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation takes on Alzheimer's on the ABC Sunday

morning show This Week with Christiane Amanpour. In highlighting the problem

with funding caregivers for Alzheimer's patients, Ann O'Leary said, " We estimate

families are spending $56,000 a year paying out-of-pocket and we don't have any

insurance for this. " Christiane Amanpour voiced the opinion that the United

States is the only developed country without a national strategy.

Phyllis Shelton, President of LTC Consultants, disagrees. " While I commend

Shriver and Ann O'Leary for focusing a national spotlight on this critical

issue, it is incorrect to say there is no insurance to fund caregiving for

Alzheimer's or that the U.S. has no national strategy, " she commented. " We have

wonderful insurance for Alzheimer's and we do have a national strategy to pay

for Alzheimer's and other conditions that require long-term care. "

Shelton says the reason most Americans don't know about this solution is because

2006 legislation made it possible for the majority of states to implement it in

the last three years, and states don't have the money to educate the public

about it.

Go to full story:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS97558+18-Oct-2010+PRN20101018