Alzheimer's And Presidential Elections

Hopefully, our next president will recognize AD as the epidemic it is and once in office will recommend greatly increased research funding for Alzheimer's.
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One of the first major responsibilities of our next president will be to propose a 2018 federal budget. This budget proposal will provide our new president with the opportunity to recommend spending priorities for our nation. However, should congress remain politically polarized, only proposals with strong bipartisan support are likely to be successfully adopted.

I am pleased to note that both major party candidates for president have expressed support for increased research funding for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Hillary Clinton has pledged to recommend $2 billion for AD research funding, and whereas he has never said just how much money he would recommend for AD research, Donald Trump is on record as making Alzheimer's "a top priority."

A proposal for increased AD research funding from either candidate should be well received by congress since politicians on both sides of the aisle agree that we must do more to end the scourge of AD. The bill that created NAPA, the National Alzheimer's Project Act with the goal of ending Alzheimer's by the year 2025, was initially approved by congress in true bipartisan fashion by unanimous consent.

Unfortunately, no special funding was ever allocated to accomplish NAPA's goal. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides the major federal funding for research on serious diseases. From 2011 to 2013, NIH funded AD research at around $500 million per year, increased that spending to $562 million and $589 million in 2014 and 2015, and further increased spending to $910 million for 2016.

Last year, US Senators Collins (R-ME) and Klobuchar (D-MN) sent a letter to President Obama on behalf of senators on both sides of the aisle requesting much greater federal funding for AD research in the 2017 budget request. Their letter said, in part, "Although the Administration and Congress have made some progress in increasing funding, Alzheimer's research funding remains disproportionately low compared to its human and economic toll. Indeed, similarly deadly diseases receive annual funding of $2 billion, $3 billion, and even $5.6 billion for research, which has paid dividends. Surely, we can do more for Alzheimer's given the tremendous human and economic price of this devastating disease."

Sadly, President Obama's proposed 2017 budget for AD research was unchanged from his 2016 proposal. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is expected to spend an estimated $910 million in FY 2017 for AD research.

According to the Alzheimer's Association, more than 5 million Americans already are living with AD and one in every five Medicare dollars is spent on someone with AD. In addition, "Average per-person Medicare spending for seniors with Alzheimer's is almost three times higher than average per-person spending for all other seniors." Unless we can prevent or effectively treat AD by 2050, "Medicare spending on people with Alzheimer's will total $547 billion - an increase of 365 percent from today's spending levels. This will represent an estimated one in every three dollars of total Medicare spending."

Congress approved $5.4 billion emergency funding for Ebola during the height of that crisis, and recently approved $1.1 billion for Zika funding. Yet Alzheimer's, a human and financial crisis affecting more than 5 million people in this country, receives less than $1 billion in annual funding.

The longer our nation waits to spend the necessary funds to find ways to prevent and effectively treat AD, the greater the chance of bankrupting our nation's Medicare program, and the more human tragedies and financial difficulties there will be for caregivers and loved ones with Alzheimer's.

Hopefully, our next president will recognize AD as the epidemic it is and once in office will recommend greatly increased research funding for Alzheimer's.

If you would like me to respond to questions or comments about this column, please email me directly at acvann@optonline.net. All of my columns on The Huffington Post may be accessed at www.huffingtonpost.com/allan-s-vann. You can learn more about my journey with Alzheimer's at www.allansvann.blogspot.com where you can also read my articles that have been published in caregiver magazines, medical journals, and in major newspapers.

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