Senate Report - Alzheimers

Senate Special Committee On Aging Examines Alzheimer's Study Group Report, Hears Testimony From High-Profile Advocates
27 Mar 2009

During a Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing on Wednesday, high-profile Alzheimer's disease funding advocates called for a public-private effort to garner more research money and support for caregivers, CQ HealthBeat reports (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 3/25). A recent Alzheimer's Study Group report suggested that the disease "could very easily surpass even the current economic crisis in the damage it inflicts on individuals and our economy" and cost Medicare and Medicaid more than $1 trillion annually by 2050 (Clark, Miami Herald, 3/26).

According to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), co-chair of the study group with former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.), "There is no single breakthrough that would do more to lower the cost of entitlements than preventing the onset of Alzheimer's disease," because, "Given the present trends, Alzheimer's will cost Medicare and Medicaid a projected $19.89 trillion between 2010 and 2050."

The study group called for the creation of the Alzheimer's Solutions Project that would focus national efforts to first delay the onset of the disease and then to prevent it. Gingrich noted, "A five-year delay of onset would save $8.51 trillion over that same period." The project would change the payment system by 2012 to reward providers based on the coordinated services provided to patients and their families, and would establish a government-run Alzheimer's Solutions Project Office to work with the private sector for new research funding (CQ HealthBeat, 3/25). Gingrich said, "The human pain and financial burden of Alzheimer's is so great and the potential breakthroughs in science are so encouraging that a 'Manhattan Project' ... approach to ending Alzheimer's is more than justified," adding, "The choice for our generation is not whether or not to spend the money on Alzheimer's. The choice for our generation is to invest the money early and save a lot of lives, pain and money later or to be foolishly cheap" (Miami Herald, 3/26).

Gingrich suggested an "off-budget funding" strategy that would sell Alzheimer's bonds that would be repaid with savings on Alzheimer's outlays after a medical breakthrough. Scientists predict a breakthrough could occur by 2020 or 2025. Senate Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee ranking member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) told the audience that a possible funding approach would be to use some of the additional $10 billion NIH is to receive as part of the recently enacted economic stimulus package.

Kerrey told the committee that the disease creates huge dependency on caregivers, whose needs also must be addressed by lawmakers, as they are often forced to stop working.

Other speakers at the hearing included California first lady Maria Shriver, whose father -- Sargent Shriver, founder of Peace Corps, Head Start and AmeriCorps -- has Alzheimer's; and retired Supreme Court Justice and member of the study group Sandra Day O'Connor, whose husband has Alzheimer's (CQ HealthBeat, 3/25).

The group's strategic plan is available online (.pdf).

NPR's "Talk of The Nation" on Wednesday featured a discussion with Gingrich, O'Connor and former Surgeon General David Satcher on the recommendations in the Alzheimer's Study Group report (Conan, "Talk of the Nation," NPR, 3/25).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/143927.php

Main News Category: Alzheimer's / Dementia

Also Appears In: Seniors / Aging,