thing. fully three quarters of people who live to age 65 will develop cancer, heart disease, chronic lung disease, dementia or are going to have a stroke in their last year of life. and all of that is costly. let s show you how some of those numbers break down. the estimated lifetime cost of treating a stroke, for example, in a senior, $100,000. for heart disease, conservative price tag, around $121,000 over 20 years. that s without surgery. and if you need surgery, many people do, costs can run more than $4 million. for prostate cancer treatment, the cost is around $41,000. and the average cost of a nursing home per year, $42,000 to $70,000. for an alzheimer s patient, the estimated life tom cost, $174,000. they re big numbers and add up quickly and your insurance doesn t always cover everything. randi kaye has one family s story. reporter: terence foley embraced life. he spoke six languages, even
tonight, we begin a week-long series called the secrets of the high cost of medicine. i m going to start off by showing a you a couple of numbers. this year, medicare will spend roughly $125 billion on patients during their last 12 months of life. that s a full quarter of its entire budget. so why is spending so skewed toward the end of life? well, we all know medical advances have allowed people to live longer, but here s the thing. fully three quarters of people who live to age 65 will develop cancer, heart disease, chronic lung disease, dementia or are going to have a stroke in their last year of life. and all of that is costly. let s show you how some of those numbers break down. the estimated lifetime cost of treating a stroke, for example, in a senior, $100,000. for heart disease, conservative price tag, around $121,000 over 20 years. that s without surgery. and if you need surgery, many people do, costs can run more than $4 million. for prostate cancer treatment, the cost is aro