ATLANTA - State lawmaker Renee Unterman, a Republican Senator from Buford, has introduced legislation that focuses on assisting Georgia citizens who are battling Alzheimer's disease and related forms of dementia.
The legislation would create a statewide task force that would address how the state will handle future spiralling healthcare costs.
"Unfortunately, Georgia is one of 24 states left in the nation that have not made a statewide plan dealing with Alzheimer's," Unterman told the Georgia News Network. "What this piece of legislation does is it creates a statewide task force planning for the future of how the state of Georgia will help take care of people that are affected with Alzheimer's and related dementia."
Unterman, who pre-filed the bill in December, also said one of the goals of the legislation is to keep people home and out of nursing homes for as long as possible, adding: "The average cost of a nursing home [stay] is between $60-70,000 in the state of Georgia, and it can go up to $100,000 nationwide, so it's very expensive."
Unterman said most retirees eventually run through their savings and end up relying on Medicaid or Medicare, and that those programs are already being challenged.
