Caregiving Costs for Heart Disease and Stroke Survivors Projected to Soar to $128 Billion by 2035

A study from the American Heart Association published in Circulation predicts the cost of informal caregiving for Americans with heart disease and stroke will increase more than twofold from $61 billion in 2015 to $128 billion by 2035, raising the association's predicted 2035 price tag for cardiovascular disease (CVD) total costs to $1.2 trillion a year, reports Medical Xpress . "By 2035, the number of Americans living with heart disease and stroke will rise to 131.2 million — 45 percent of the total U.S. population," says American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown. "Understanding the escalating burden this will place on the family members and friends who care for these individuals is essential if we are to address this looming crisis." The association cites five steps for policy officials, lawmakers, and healthcare leaders to follow to address this crisis, starting with complying with recommendations from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which call for developing mechanisms within Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans Affairs to support informal caregivers; setting up payment reforms to spur providers to engage caregivers in healthcare delivery and federal policies that provide economic support for caregivers; and vetting state efforts that address caregiver needs. The other steps include making palliative care available for people with advanced CVD by expanding access in all hospital and community-based settings, embedding caregiver engagement and outcomes in performance and payment reforms, putting more funding into caregiving research and focusing on priorities such as healthcare delivery reforms, and deploying the Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage Family Caregivers Act.