violence prevention head of tomorrow's march for our lives rally in washington. he will join panelists at this by reuters. live at 6:00 p.m. eastern. until then, a portion of today's "washington journal." joining us from chicago this morning is keith fargo. he is the alzheimer's science ands outreach director, here with a new report on the disease. let's begin with the numbers. americans are living with alzheimer's in 2018. that is projected to go to 14 million by 2050. will costn 2018 -- it the nation $277 million -- billion. that could rise to $1.1 trillion. explain why.

byst: this is mostly german demographics. as people age, they will not necessarily develop alzheimer's disease. but age is the americas factor for alzheimer's, just like it is for cancer and heart disease and other illnesses. ,o as the population ages unfortunately, more people are developing alzheimer's disease. that is projected to continue through 2050 at least. we project nearly 14 million americans will have alzheimer's disease unless we can find breakthroughs in biomedical research to change that trajectory. the good news is you look at diseases like heart disease and cancer, in many of those cases, there are treatments available. sometimes, they can be cured or reversed. with alzheimer's, we are not there yet. but there is a tremendous amount of research happening now designed to do that, so we hope we can turn the tide before these projected numbers turn

reality. host: explained the history of the disease. has always been prevalent? what makes it prevalent? guest: again, it is driven by demographics. theou look 100 years ago, average lifespan was not long, so few people would actually develop alzheimer's. ,he risk does increase with age even though just getting older does not necessarily mean you will get alzheimer's. but if you are 65 or older, about one in 10 people have alzheimer's. 85 and older, that jumps to one in three. so as the population demographics shift, as baby boomers reach the age of risk, we are seeing more people develop autonomous. host: what about race demographics? does it impact every race? guest: it does. everyone with a brain is at risk of alzheimer's disease. that said, there are some ethnic

factors that seem to play a role. african-americans are twice as likely to develop dementia, and hispanics and latinos are one and a half times as likely as hispanic whites. geneticrtly german by differences and socioeconomic factors. if you consider a person of age now to develop alzheimer's, they have different life experiences based on whether they were white, african-american, hispanic-latino. jobs and educational opportunities. these are known to play a role in a person's likelihood to develop dementia. host: you say early and accurate 7.9nesses can save up to trillion dollars in medical and care costs. how do you calculate that figure, and what would lead to

those savings? guest: i would be happy to talk about that. in this report, we commissioned a study into early diagnosis and the economic impact of early diagnosis. most people today who have alzheimer's are either diagnosed during the dementia stage, which is relatively advanced, or, unfortunately, many are not just -- i just not diagnosed at all. in recent years, we have been able to diagnose people earlier, so rather than waiting until the dementia stage, we can now that most people in the state prior to that, which is called mild cognitive impairment. unfortunately, this does not happen yet in most cases, but it is possible now. so savings -- potential savings come from two things. number one is the costs ofrounding the period

diagnosis of itself. many people today diagnosed in the dementia stage, the diagnosis happens in a time of crisis. let's say a person is found wandering and confused you they are already in the dementia stage. so they will be placed in the hospital, and many tests will be ordered to rule this out, rule that out. all the while, they are in the hospital while this diagnosis is occurring. finally, a diagnosis is found, and they released back home or into a nursing home or residential care -- well, that is an expensive process to find out this person had dementia. if you diagnose a person during the mild cognitive impairment stage, instead of waiting until the dementia stage, that can typically be done in and out -- in an outpatient setting. checkupcan go in for a every year paid for by medicare, and the physician may notice

commented changes. they may be able to make a diagnosis. watchful,ake a waiting approach. and when they, for the next annual wellness visit, a diagnosis is made. if that happens, it is on an outpatient basis. that is much less expensive. there is this period of diagnosis, the peak of costs, and that is smaller if the diagnosis is made at the mild cognitive impairment, mci, stage,ed dementia is much less expensive than unmanaged dementia. nd up taking too much or too little insulin, and

they can and up in some sort of they end up in the hospital and it was avoidable. in this case the alzheimer's is diagnosed, managed, plans in place, and this person has a much easier time with a care team managing their diabetes, so they can avoid hospitalization. those are the things that drive the $7.9 trillion in potential savings through early diagnosis so you can put those correct care plans into place. host: we want to hear from our viewers. those who are impacted, we want t--

guest: one of the main responsibilities is paying for care. you mentioned cost of care for those who have alzheimer's is $277 billion. we are talking medicare, medicaid, out-of-pocket costs. this is the second year in a row that cost has topped $250 billion, and we expect that to continue to grow until we get some breakthrough in treatment. most of that is covered by medicare and medicaid. about half of that is medicare, $47 billion isal medicaid. is paid3 of that cost for by these government programs. the other thing that government does for alzheimer's disease and

dementia is fun biomedical research so we cannot have a stash so we can have a breakthrough in treatment. i am happily to let you know that the spending bill that was just passed by the house and the $414 milliones a increase in nih funding for alzheimer's disease. that brings the nih investment in alzheimer's research to just under $2 billion a year. we have made great progress on that front, that if you compare that to the $277 billion we are paying for care, it is a relatively small amount. host: robert in texas. good morning to you. you are on the air. caller: good morning. thank you so much and good morning. one thing -- i am glad you mentioned about mild cognitive impairment.

i wish you talk more about that, because as i go to meetings, not many of the participants understand mild cognitive impairment and a shout out from your hometown, the mayo clinic, is where this started. could you talk about the ofpellants -- prevalence those with alzheimer's and those with i.d.? also because of the fact you cannot use the standard mental tests for those with i.d. to identify maybe the potential of dementia/alzheimer's occurring in this population. guest: i would be happy to talk both. the concept of mild cognitive impairment -- and i'm happy you called out dr. peevish and --

dr. peterson. he was the one who developed this idea in the medical community, and there has been a tremendous and of both science and clinical practice, this idea of mild cognitive impairment. mild cognitive impairment means a person has problems with their cognition, and is is usually memory, although it can be other things, but problems with their cognition that are measurable by paper and pencil tests or computer tests, or just question and answer tests by the physician. they are measurable, not just something that i can feel myself, but has not yet -- the impairment has not become bad enough that it interferes with activities of daily living. you cancel take your medication, still dress yourself, you can still go to the grocery store and buy groceries, you can still balance her checkbook. so those functional