Alzheimer's Epidemic To Implode Health Care System Time Is Running Out As Babyboomers Hit Age of RiskAlzheimer's Association Calling for a national scientific initiative that will address the crisis Alzheimer's disease will cause this nation as it hits epidemic proportions, the Alzheimer's Association said today, the United States must embark on a research program with new federal monies for imaging and genetics research aimed at finding risk factors and biomarkers of Alzheimer's, leading the way for a prevention or cure.  "There is a disaster looming on the horizon that only President Bush and Congress can prevent," said Sheldon Goldberg, president and CEO of the Alzheimer's Association. "The U.S. health care system is about to implode, and Alzheimer's disease will be the detonator." Testifying before the Senate HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, Goldberg said, "Congress must act - immediately and aggressively - to prevent the economic disaster and human tragedy that Alzheimer's will cause. There is no other salvation. We either make the necessary investment now or leave it to our children, and to future Congresses and future Presidents, to reap the devastating financial and human consequences of inaction." "If our elected officials are serious about saving our health care system and controlling the costs of Medicare and Medicaid, they have no choice but to increase -- immediately and substantially -- their investment in Alzheimer research," said Goldberg. "The clock is ticking. We have 10 years at most to prevent disaster. If we miss that chance, Alzheimer's will bankrupt family, state, and federal budgets as up to 14 million baby boomers succumb to the disease." According to the Association Alzheimer's the disease is already driving up Medicare costs. The program pays three times more for basic health care for persons with dementia than it pays for other beneficiaries. That holds true across age groups and medical conditions. Within 10 years, annual Medicare costs for beneficiaries with Alzheimer's will increase from $32 billion to almost $50 billion ---even before the baby boomers enter the age of risk. "Imagine what will happen to Medicare when 14 million baby boomers have Alzheimer's disease," said Goldberg. "The outlook for Medicaid is just as grim," said Goldberg. "For 16 years, I represented long term care providers here in Washington. More recently, I ran one of the oldest and largest long term health care systems in the country. I can tell you that these systems are already full of people with Alzheimer's disease. Nearly 60% of residents of our nursing homes - and perhaps as many in assisted living - have dementia. They are already straining capacity to the breaking point." "We need to work as hard as we can to provide more options for people to stay at home with their families as long as they can," said Goldberg. "But eventually most people with Alzheimer's disease will need full time care that is beyond the ability of families to manage on their own. If we let 14 million babyboomers get to that point in Alzheimer's disease, we will be building nursing homes on virtually every street corner in America." The cost of long term care will bankrupt families first. And then it will bankrupt Medicaid. Within 10 years, Medicaid's share of the annual nursing home bill for people with Alzheimer's will increase by 80% - from $18 billion to $33 billion. "If I were a governor, I would be beating down the doors of Congress demanding the funds for an all-out assault on Alzheimer's disease," said Goldberg. "If I were a corporate CEO, I would be here urging you to act, because Alzheimer's disease is extracting heavy costs from American business as well. In 2002, that cost was $61 billion - the majority of it the result of lost productivity of workers caring for people with the disease. That was the equivalent of the profits in 2002 of the top 10 Fortune 500 companies. And it was almost twice as much as the 1998 estimate of a $33 billion cost to business." "We know that you are under enormous budget pressures - with the economic slowdown, rising budget deficits, and the costs associated with the conflict in Iraq," said Marilyn Albert, PhD, chair of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee of the Alzheimer's Association. "We understand that Congress will have to make very hard choices among compelling needs and competing priorities. And, we understand that with the completion of the effort to double funding for the National Institutes of Health, requests for additional support for medical research will receive extra scrutiny." "Those of us in the scientific community who have been working on the problem of Alzheimer's disease for a long time are astounded at the extraordinary progress that has been made in the past two decades, and especially the tremendous leaps forward in just these past few years. That is the result of the investment Congress has already made and the leadership and persistence provided by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA)," said Albert. "Every additional dollar you can direct to Alzheimer research will be well spent, as part of a carefully constructed strategy designed to get us to the answers faster, better, and in the long run, cheaper," said Albert. "Our strategy for conquering Alzheimer's has shifted over the years and has become more ambitious, as we have learned more about the basic mechanisms of the disease and as new scientific tools like imaging and genetics have become available to us." "Scientists are looking for a way to find the answers faster and cheaper," said Albert. "The NIA is ready to embark on new initiatives in imaging and genetics aimed at finding risk factors and surrogate biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease. That will make it possible to do research faster and in fewer people, to find the compound(s) that have the desired impact on the brain, long before symptoms appear. These initiatives will cost new money in the short run - an estimated $60 million for the genetics initiative over the next 3 years and at least another $60 million for the imaging initiative. It is well worth the cost. The payoff will be enormous." Albert outlined a five-part strategy that the nation should follow:
For more information, or to contact Alzheimer's Association, see their website at: www.alz.org |
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