It was President Ronald Reagan who first declared November as National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month in 1983. At that time, fewer than two million Americans had the disease. Today, that number has more than doubled-to nearly 5.4 million Americans. Based on current projections, as many as 16 million Americans over the age of 65 will have Alzheimer’s disease by 2050. In addition to the human suffering it causes, Alzheimer’s costs the United States more than $200 billion a year, including $142 billion in costs to Medicare and Medicaid.
Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease that exacts a tremendous personal and economic toll on both the individual and the family. Like many families, mine has experienced the pain of Alzheimer’s, and I know that there is no more helpless feeling than to watch the progression of this devastating disease. It is equally painful to witness the emotional and physical damage inflicted on family caregivers, exhausted by an endless series of “36 hour” days. Alzheimer’s disease is the only cause of death among the top ten in our nation without a way to prevent it, cure it, or even slow its progression.
This problem will only worsen as the baby boom generation ages. If we fail to change the current trajectory of Alzheimer’s disease, our country will not only face a mounting public health crisis, but an economic one as well. If nothing is done to slow or stop the disease, the Alzheimer’s Association estimates that Alzheimer’s will cost the United States an astonishing $20 trillion over the next forty years.
It is estimated that nearly one in two of the baby boomers reaching 85 will develop Alzheimer’s. As a consequence, chances are that the members of the baby boom generation will either be spending their golden years with Alzheimer’s or caring for someone who has it. In many ways, Alzheimer’s has become the defining disease of this generation.
If we are to prevent Alzheimer’s from becoming the defining disease of the next generation, it is imperative that we dramatically increase our investment in Alzheimer’s disease research. According to a study commissioned by the National Institute on Aging, Alzheimer’s and other dementias cost the United States more than cancer and heart disease. This study finds that both the costs and number of people with dementia will more than double within thirty years, skyrocketing at a rate that rarely occurs with a chronic disease.
At a time when the cost to Medicare and Medicaid of caring for Alzheimer’s patients is $142 billion a year, we are spending slightly more than $500 million on Alzheimer’s research. We currently spend $6 billion a year for cancer research, $3 billion a year for research on HIV/AIDS, and $2 billion for cardiovascular research, all worthy investments. Surely we can do more for Alzheimer’s given the tremendous human and economic price of this devastating disease.
The National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease was authorized by the 2010 National Alzheimer’s Project Act, a bipartisan bill that I introduced with then-Senator Evan Bayh. The National Plan has as its primary goal, to “prevent and effectively treat Alzheimer’s disease by 2025.” The Chairman of the Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care, and Services created by the National Alzheimer’s Project Act, has testified before Congress that the United States must devote at least $2 billion a year to Alzheimer’s research in order to reach that goal.
I recently joined my colleague, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), in introducing a Resolution declaring that the goal of preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer’s by 2025 is an urgent national priority. Our Resolution recognizes that bold action and dramatic increases in funding are necessary to meet that goal and resolves that the Senate will strive to double the amount of funding the United States spends on Alzheimer’s research in fiscal year 2015 and develop a plan to meet the target of $2 billion a year over the next five years.
A strong and sustained research effort is our best tool to slow the progression, find better treatments, and ultimately a cure for this devastating disease.
