Two lawmakers are asking for support of two bipartisan bills to ensure the nation has the ability to continue both immediate and long-term planning in its efforts to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
US Reps. Paul Tonko (D-NY) and Chris Smith (R-NJ) co-authored a letter to the chair and ranking member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to urge passage of the NAPA Reauthorization Act and the Alzheimer’s Accountability and Investment Act.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, a figure that is expected to double by 2050. This year, Alzheimer’s will cost Medicare and Medicaid an estimated $206 billion, a figure that is projected to increase to $618 billion in 2050.
“These mounting costs threaten to bankrupt families, businesses and our healthcare system,” the letter said. “Unfortunately, our work is only growing more urgent.”
The NAPA Reauthorization Act (S. 4203/H.R. 7775) would reauthorize the National Alzheimer’s Project Act through 2035. It also updates the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease to include a new focus on promoting healthy aging, addressing health disparities and reducing risk factors.
Released in 2012, the national plan focuses on promoting rapid research on Alzheimer’s and improving the delivery of clinical care and services for effected individuals and their families. Along with promoting healthy aging and reducing risk factors, the plan targets prevention and treatment, enhanced care quality and support, increased public awareness and improved data tracking.
The legislation also would add new federal representatives to the NAPA Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care and Services from the Department of Justice, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Social Security Administration. Other advisory council members include a researcher with clinical trial experience and an individual in whom the disease has been diagnosed. The advisory council would oversee implementation of the national plan.
Tonko and Smith also called for support for renewal of the Alzheimer’s Accountability and Investment Act (S. 4202/H.R. 7773) to continue to prioritize Alzheimer’s and dementia research funding at the National Institutes of Health. First enacted in 2014, the act is set to expire in 2025. It ensures that Congress hears directly from NIH scientists on how much research funding is necessary to fully implement NAPA’s research goals. Under the act, Alzheimer’s NIH research funding has increased more than seven-fold in the last decade.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who authored NAPA in 2011, said the law must be reauthorized to “ensure that research investments remain coordinated and their impact maximized.”
“The two bills … will maintain our momentum and make sure that we do not take our foot off the pedal just as our investments in basic research are beginning to translate into potential new treatments,” Collins said in a statement when the bills were introduced earlier this year. “We must not let Alzheimer’s define our children’s generation as it has ours.”
