[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 167 (Thursday, December 16, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    NATIONAL ALZHEIMER'S PROJECT ACT

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                               speech of

                           HON. STEVE ISRAEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 15, 2010

  Mr. ISRAEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak in support of the 
National Alzheimer's Project Act--a bill whose passage will mark the 
first coordinated and concentrated effort by the Federal Government to 
meet the challenges posed by Alzheimer's disease.
  And, those challenges are many. There's the toll it takes on the 
physical health of the 5.3 million Americans living with the disease, 
the toll it takes on the emotional well-being of the 11 million people 
caring for those with the disease, and the increasingly great toll it 
takes on the finances of the federal budget. The disease takes and 
takes. But, with the National Alzheimer's Project Act, we can finally 
fight back.
  The need to do so could not be any clearer.
  In 2010, Medicare and Medicaid spent $122 billion caring for people 
with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. Without action, the 
annual cost to those two programs alone from Alzheimer's disease will 
reach $805 billion in 2050. But, we are not destined to increase the 
Medicare and Medicaid costs of this disease almost sevenfold.
  In fact, we know that a therapeutic intervention that delays the 
onset of Alzheimer's by five years would cut nearly in half the 
projected Medicare cost of the disease over the same time period.
  To reach that future where the number of Americans with the disease 
does not rise unabated and the costs spiral out of control we will need 
to marshal all of our resources. With this bill, we assign a field 
general.
  The bill establishes the National Alzheimer's Project within the 
Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services to improve the 
early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, to coordinate research across 
all Federal agencies, and to accelerate the development of treatments 
that would prevent, halt, or reverse the advancement of the disease.
  The creation of a strategic plan not only provides a vision for 
fighting Alzheimer's, but also mandates the creation of benchmarks to 
measure our progress in that fight. Today, we have no way of evaluating 
outcomes, let alone a way to improve them.
  I am pleased to support such a critical piece of legislation which 
will improve the lives of the millions of Americans living with the 
disease and the millions of Americans caring for them.

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