OH JOE!
Biden makes yet another gaffe as his claim about Alzheimer’s is branded ‘nonsensical’
JOE Biden has been found guilty of yet another gaffe as his repeated claim about Alzheimer's patients and hospital beds is branded as "nonsensical" by fact-checkers.
The president claimed in several speeches that US hospital beds will be overwhelmed by Americans suffering from in two decades' time as he pushed for further research into the disease.
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“You know, if we don’t do something about Alzheimer’s in America, every single, solitary hospital bed that exists in America ... every single one will be occupied in the next 15 years with an Alzheimer’s patient," he said during remarks about the economy on May 27.
Just two months earlier, had claimed that it would take 20 years for this to happen.
"If we don’t do something, for example about Alzheimer’s, every single bed in American hospitals today will be occupied by someone with Alzheimer’s within 20 years," he said during a tour of a cancer hospital on March 23.
Yet fact-checkers for have revealed that there is no basis for these claims or research that shows US hospitals will at any point be overwhelmed by Alzheimer's patients.
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They branded it as a "Biden original" as no experts appear to understand where the president found the 2040 prediction.
It notes that many Alzheimer's patients end up in long-term care homes, not in hospitals.
It also added that Alzheimer's patients, when hospitalized, may also have been so for another reason, with the disease referenced for secondary treatment.
The Washington Post reported that while the number of Americans over 65 years old will have increased by 2040, the prevalence of Alzheimer's may have decreased by then.
It cited figures from the Alzheimer's Association that would suggest 11.2million Americans could have the disease by 2040.
Yet as just over half of Alzheimer's patients are required to take a hospital stay, this would amount to an estimated seven million hospitalized throughout 2040.
'PLUCKED FROM THIN AIR'
As these patients do not generally stay in the hospital for much longer than 23 days, this means that there would be an estimated 440,000 beds needed by someone with any form of dementia every day in 2040, the Post reports.
This is already far below the 920,000 acute-care beds currently available in US hospitals, which also has the capacity to be much larger in 20 years time.
The Post said that "completely ignores the basics of supply and demand" and was "plucked from thin air."
"Contrary to his claim, our calculations show that in 2040 there would still be plenty of hospital beds even with the anticipated increase in patients with Alzheimer’s disease," the fact-checkers added.
Biden's misleading comments have been identified as further gaffes by the president rack up and conservatives accuse him of making the US look weak.
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