Dylan Scott is a GOVERNING staff writer.E-mail:
firstname.lastname@example.org One in eight older Americans --
5.4 million -- live with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the
American Alzheimer’s Association. The disease costs the health-
care sector up to $200 billion annually. If those trends hold as
the nation’s population ages (the number of Americans over 65 is
expected to balloon by 75 percent by 2029), those costs, both
personal and fiscal, could increase exponentially. The
association places the tangible costs at $20 trillion over the
next 40 years. So what are states doing about it? In 2009, the
Alzheimer’s association worked with lawmakers in 20 states to
pass legislation that created State Government Alzheimer's
Disease Strategic Plans. They create a system for coordination
among state legislators, government agencies, health-care
providers and patients to confront the disease through public
policy. Advocates hailed the movement as an important step
toward crafting an organized approach to a disease