[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 24 (Thursday, February 12, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1003-S1006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENATE RESOLUTION 74--DECLARING THAT ACHIEVING THE PRIMARY GOAL OF THE
NATIONAL PLAN TO ADDRESS ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES TO PREVENT AND EFFECTIVELY TREAT ALZHEIMER'S
DISEASE BY 2025 IS AN URGENT NATIONAL PRIORITY
Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Warner,
Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Markey, and Mr. Whitehouse) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions:
S. Res. 74
Whereas the number of individuals in the United States with
Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (referred to in
this preamble as ``Alzheimer's'') is as high as 5,200,000,
which is more than double the number in 1980;
Whereas based on the trajectory of Alzheimer's, as many as
16,000,000 individuals in the United States may have
Alzheimer's by 2050;
Whereas the increasing prevalence of Alzheimer's and other
dementias is a global health crisis that afflicts an
estimated 44,000,000 individuals worldwide as of December,
2013 and may afflict over 135,000,000 individuals by 2050;
Whereas Alzheimer's is a leading cause of death in the
United States with new data indicating that more than 500,000
deaths each year are attributable to the disease;
Whereas Alzheimer's is the only disease among the top 10
causes of death in the United States without an effective
means of prevention, treatment, or cure;
Whereas Alzheimer's places an enormous financial strain on
families, the health care system, and State and Federal
budgets;
Whereas the Medicare program under title XVIII of the
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) and the Medicaid
program under title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
1396 et seq.) are estimated to bear more than two-thirds of
the total costs of this care in 2015;
Whereas a RAND Corporation study published in 2013 and
commissioned by the National Institute on Aging found that
Alzheimer's is the costliest disease in the United States,
costing more than cancer and heart disease;
Whereas in 2013, an estimated 15,500,000 family members and
friends of individuals with Alzheimer's provided those
individuals with 17,700,000,000 hours of unpaid care, an
amount valued at more than $220,000,000;
Whereas Alzheimer's disease has a disproportionate impact
on many populations including women, African Americans, and
Latinos;
Whereas the global cost of Alzheimer's exceeds
$600,000,000,000 each year, an amount equal to approximately
1 percent of the world's gross domestic product;
Whereas in December 2013, the G-8 nations met and adopted a
political declaration supporting the goal of a cure or
disease-modifying therapy for dementia by 2025 as well as
collectively and significantly increasing resources committed
to dementia research;
Whereas Alzheimer's takes an emotional and physical toll on
caregivers that results in a higher incidence of chronic
conditions, such as heart disease, cancer, and depression
among caregivers;
Whereas the National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease of
the Department of Health and Human Services enables family
caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's to provide care
while maintaining personal health and well-being;
Whereas the National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease
supports informal caregivers by--
(1) identifying the support needs of caregivers;
(2) developing and disseminating modes for intervention;
(3) providing information that caregivers need,
particularly in crisis situations; and
(4) assisting caregivers in maintaining personal health and
well-being;
Whereas a strong and sustained research effort is the best
tool to slow the progression and ultimately prevent the onset
of Alzheimer's;
Whereas while the cost to the Medicare and Medicaid
programs of caring for Alzheimer's patients is estimated to
be $153,000,000,000 in 2015, the United States, through the
National Institutes of Health, will spend about $586,000,000
on Alzheimer's research in 2015;
Whereas the Chairman of the Advisory Council on Alzheimer's
Research, Care, and Services created by the National
Alzheimer's Project Act (42 U.S.C. 11225) has testified
before Congress that the United States must devote at least
$2,000,000,000 each year to Alzheimer's research to reach the
goal of preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer's by
2025; and
Whereas the public members of the Advisory Council on
Alzheimer's Research, Care, and Services unanimously agree
with the testimony of the Chairman regarding the amount of
money required to reach the goal for 2025: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) is committed to strengthening the quality of care and
expanding support for individuals with Alzheimer's disease
and related dementias (referred to in this resolution as
``Alzheimer's'') and family caregivers of individuals with
Alzheimer's;
(2) declares that achieving the primary goal of the
National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease to prevent and
effectively treat Alzheimer's by 2025 is an urgent national
priority;
(3) recognizes that bold action and considerable increases
in funding are necessary to meet that goal;
(4) encourages greater collaboration between the United
States and other global governments, particularly the G-7
nations, to advance a global Alzheimer's and dementia
research plan;
(5) supports innovative public-private partnership and the
pursuit of innovative financing tools, incentives and other
mechanisms to accelerate the pursuit of disease-modifying
therapies; and
(6) strives to--
(A) double the amount of funding the United States spends
on Alzheimer's research in fiscal year 2016; and
(B) develop a plan for fiscal years 2017 through 2020 to
meet the target of the Advisory Council on Alzheimer's
Research, Care,
[[Page S1004]]
and Services for the United States to spend $2,000,000,000
each year on Alzheimer's research.
Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, Alzheimer's is a terrible disease that
takes a tremendous personal and economic toll on the individual, the
family, and society. In addition to the human suffering it causes,
Alzheimer's costs the United States an estimated $226 billion a year,
including $153 billion from the Medicare and Medicaid Programs. These
costs will only skyrocket as the baby boom generation ages. Already our
Nation's costliest disease, Alzheimer's is projected to cost more than
$1.1 trillion if nothing is done to change its current trajectory. It
is now estimated that nearly one in two of the baby boomers reaching
age 85 will develop Alzheimer's. As a consequence, chances are that
members of the baby boom generation will either be spending their
golden years suffering with Alzheimer's or caring for someone who has
it. In many ways Alzheimer's has become the defining disease of this
generation.
If we are to prevent Alzheimer's from becoming the defining disease
of the next generation, it is imperative that we dramatically increase
our investment in Alzheimer's research. At a time when the United
States is spending some $226 billion a year caring for Alzheimer's
patients, we are spending less than three-tenths of 1 percent of that
amount--under $600 million a year--on research. This makes no sense. We
currently spend $4.5 billion a year for cancer research, $3 billion a
year for research on HIV-AIDS, and $2 billion for cardiovascular
research--all investments that have paid dividends.
Surely we can do more for Alzheimer's given the tremendous human and
economic price of this devastating disease. Investments in research for
other diseases have yielded tremendous results. We see that with
cancer, with HIV/AIDS. Patients have access to new treatments, and
death rates for some of these diseases are decreasing. At the same
time, mortality due to Alzheimer's is escalating.
Alzheimer's is one of our Nation's leading causes of death, with
recent data revealing that each year more than 500,000 deaths are
attributable to Alzheimer's and other dementia, 6 times the amount
previously estimated. Moreover, Alzheimer's is the only one of our
Nation's top 10 deadliest diseases without an effective means of
prevention, treatment or a cure.
Fortunately there is promising research that holds hope for
Alzheimer's patients and their families. The research community is
poised to make important advances through clinical trials and by
investigating new therapeutic targets, but adequate funding is critical
to achieve this promise. The National Plan to Address Alzheimer's
Disease was authorized by the bipartisan National Alzheimer's Act,
which I coauthored with then-Senator Evan Bayh.
The national plan has as its primary goal to prevent and effectively
treat Alzheimer's disease by the year 2025. The chairman of the
advisory council that was created by the act, Dr. Ronald Petersen of
the Mayo Clinic, has testified before Congress that the United States
should be devoting $2 billion a year at a minimum to Alzheimer's
research in order to reach that goal.
A dramatic increase in funding for Alzheimer's research will not just
save lives, it will also save money. According to a report issued by
the Alzheimer's Association last year, a Federal investment of $2
billion a year between now and the year 2025, as recommended by the
experts on the Alzheimer's Advisory Council and the scientific
community more broadly, would be recouped within the first 3 years
after a treatment delaying the onset of Alzheimer's by just 5 years
becomes available.
I am therefore pleased to be introducing today, with my colleagues
Senators Klobuchar, Mikulski, Warner, Durbin, and Stabenow, a
resolution declaring that the goal of preventing and effectively
treating Alzheimer's is an urgent national priority. In recognition of
the fact that bold action and considerable increases in funding are
necessary to meet that goal, our resolution states that the Senate will
strive to double the amount of funding the United States spends on
Alzheimer's research in fiscal year 2016 and that we will develop a
plan to meet the target of $2 billion over the next 5 years.
Our bill is supported by a number of organizations including the
Alzheimer's Association, UsAgainstAlzheimer's, the Leaders Engaged on
Alzheimer's Disease--or the LEAD Coalition--and the Alzheimer's
Foundation of America.
I ask unanimous consent that the letters from these organizations be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
LEAD--Leaders Engaged
on Alzheimer's Disease,
February 11, 2015.
Hon. Susan Collins,
Chairman, Special Committee on Aging, U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Collins: As executive director of Leaders
Engaged on Alzheimer's Disease (the LEAD Coalition), I write
to thank you for your inspirational leadership in
reintroducing the Senate resolution to strengthen care and
support, encourage greater international collaboration,
incentivize private sector research, double federal
investments in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias
research in FY 2016, and bring annual federal investments to
at least $2 billion by 2020. Your resolution is an important
next step toward each of these vital goals and the LEAD
Coalition will continue to work arm-in-arm with you and your
colleagues to realize the resolution's promise.
There are few more compelling or complex issues to confront
our aging society now and over the coming decades than
Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (including
vascular, Lewy body or frontotemporal dementia). Its place as
a national priority was made clear by the effort you led
resulting in unanimous congressional passage of the National
Alzheimer's Project Act. That law directed creation of the
National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease and, as you
know, the National Plan's goal number one is to prevent and
effectively treat Alzheimer's disease and related dementias
by 2025.
In fact, as your resolution highlights, Alzheimer's disease
and related dementias are an urgent national priority that
impose enormous costs to our nation's health and prosperity,
costs that are skyrocketing. Today, more than five million
Americans have dementia at an annual cost to our economy
exceeding $200 billion. Alzheimer's disease contributes to
the deaths of approximately 500,000 Americans each year,
making it the third leading cause of death in the United
States. If the current trajectory of the disease persists,
between 13 million and 16 million Americans will have
dementia in 2050 and total costs of care are projected to
exceed (inflation adjusted 2014 dollars) $1 trillion
annually. The federal government, through Medicare and
Medicaid payments, shoulders an estimated 70 percent of all
such direct care costs.
Globally, the stakes of American scientific leadership are
higher still. Today, 44 million people have dementia with
annual costs exceeding $600 billion or about one percent of
the world's GDP. If the current trajectory of the disease
persists, upwards of 135 million persons worldwide will have
dementia in 2050. American scientific leadership is nowhere
more urgent than in Alzheimer's disease and related
dementias.
Congress, the President and NIH Director Dr. Francis
Collins have overcome enormous obstacles to increase funding
and prioritization of Alzheimer's disease and related
dementias research over the past several years. The National
Institute an Aging (NIA) and other NIH institutes--such as
the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke,
the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and
Bioengineering, the National Institute of Mental Health and
the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development--are supporting a number of promising research
projects to: understand the genetic risk factors, address the
disproportionate impact on women, African Americans,
Hispanics, and persons with intellectual disabilities; and
pursue cutting-edge but costly and time consuming trials
aimed at preventing or substantially slowing disease
progression by administering treatments much earlier in the
disease process. These resources of time, talent and treasure
are precious and indefensibly scarce. We owe it to the
taxpayers, to the research community and--most of all--to
people living with, or at risk of, Alzheimer's disease and
related dementias to provide adequate and necessary resources
proportionate to the disease burden, unmet medical need, and
our nation's ethical and moral compass.
The broad, diverse, and unified Alzheimer's disease and
related dementias community--working together as the LEAD
Coalition--deeply admires and appreciates your remarkable
leadership on this and so many other issues of vital
importance to our nation's cognitive health, economic well-
being, and global scientific leadership. We look forward to
working with you for passage of the resolution and subsequent
congressional action on each of its goals.
Sincerely,
Ian Kremer, Esq.,
Executive Director,
LEAD Coalition.
[[Page S1005]]
____
USAgainstAlzheimers,
February 10, 2015.
Hon. Susan Collins,
Chairman, Special Committee on Aging, U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Collins: On behalf of USAgainstAlzheimers,
the national movement committed to mobilizing the nation
around the goal of stopping Alzheimer's by 2020, I am writing
to applaud you for recognizing the mounting threat of
Alzheimer's and dementia and for leading the call for the
level of public resources that are necessary to stop this
disease before it destroys our nation's health and finances.
As you are well aware from your extensive history of
leadership against Alzheimer's and dementia, more than five
million Americans are currently suffering from this disease,
and millions more are impacted as family members and
caregivers. Economic estimates suggest that Alzheimer's
disease costs the nation upwards of $200 billion each year,
with about 70 percent of costs shouldered by Medicare and
Medicaid. Direct care costs of Alzheimer's have been found to
be larger than similar costs of cancer and heart disease, and
a groundbreaking 2014 study from Rush University indicates
that more than 500,000 deaths each year are attributable to
Alzheimer's disease, six times more than the levels that have
been reported by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
Fortunately, thanks to your leadership several years ago,
our nation has a National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease
that established as goal one preventing and effectively
treating the disease by 2025, a mere 10 years away. As your
resolution recognizes, while we can set bold goals, we simply
will not achieve them absent the appropriation of necessary
resources. I commend you for being a champion in Congress
behind measures to substantially increase the amount of
public resources committed to Alzheimer's disease research so
we can reach the level of $2 billion in annual funding that
multiple experts have estimated as being needed to maximize
our chances of achieving the 2025 goal.
I understand the multiple fiscal challenges confronting the
nation. At the same time, we must recognize that the question
is not whether or not we will pay for Alzheimer's. We are
paying, dearly, today, and we will pay even more tomorrow
unless we redouble efforts to achieve scientific
breakthroughs and develop therapies and means of prevention.
Your resolution outlines a sensible track to achieve the
necessary level of funding within a timeframe during which we
can achieve the necessary impact, and makes clear that
preventing and treating Alzheimer's disease must be a
national priority.
Thank you, again, for your tremendous leadership on behalf
of all Americans impacted by this disease.
Sincerely,
George Vradenburg,
Founder and Chairman.
____
Alzheimer's Association,
Washington, DC, February 11, 2015.
Hon. Susan Collins,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Hon. Amy Klobuchar,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Collins and Senator Klobuchar: On behalf of
the Alzheimer's Association and its nationwide network of
advocates, thank you for your continued leadership on issues
and legislation important to Americans with Alzheimer's and
their caregivers. The Alzheimer's Association proudly
supports your most recent Alzheimer's resolution, which
supports the goals of National Plan to Address Alzheimer's
Disease.
The Alzheimers Association is the world's leading voluntary
health organization in Alzheimers care, support and research.
Our mission is to eliminate Alzheimer's disease and other
dementias through the advancement of research; to provide and
enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the
risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health. Our
vision is a world without Alzheimer's.
As one of our nation's strongest voices on behalf of
Americans living with Alzheimer's, you know that more than 5
million Americans are living with the disease, and without
significant action, as many as 16 million Americans will have
Alzheimer's by 2050. A 2013 study funded by the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) and published in the New England
Journal of Medicine further confirmed that Alzheimers disease
is the most expensive disease in America. Additionally, as
the baby boomer generation ages, one in eight will develop
Alzheimer's. This explosive growth will cause Alzheimers
costs to Medicare and Medicaid to increase from $153 billion
today to nearly $800 billion in 2050 (in today's dollars) and
threatens to bankrupt families, businesses and our health
care system. Unfortunately, our work is only growing more
urgent.
The passage of the National Alzheimer's Project Act in
2010, and the subsequent release of the National Plan to
Address Alzheimer's Disease, marks a new era for Alzheimers
disease and other dementias. Achieving the first goal of the
National Plan, to prevent and effectively treat Alzheimer's
disease by 2025, and supporting individuals with the disease
and their caregivers are critical to the success of this
legislation.
The Alzheimers Association deeply appreciates your
continued leadership on behalf of all American's living with
Alzheimer's. If you have any questions about this or any
other legislation, please contact Rachel Conant, Director of
Federal Affairs, at [email protected] or at 202.638.7121.
Sincerely,
Robert Egge,
Executive Vice President,
Government Affairs, Alzheimer's Association.
Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, we have to face the facts that if we do
not invest in Alzheimer's research at the levels the experts tell us is
necessary to develop effective treatments for this disease or perhaps a
means of prevention or eventually a cure, this disease is going to
continue to cause untold suffering not only for its victims but for its
families, and it will bankrupt America 's health care system.
I urge our colleagues to join us as cosponsors. I want, in
particular, to recognize my partner in this effort, the Senator from
Minnesota, Ms. Klobuchar. The home of the Mayo Clinic is in her State.
She has been stalwart in supporting the efforts to increase funding for
Alzheimer's research.
With that, I am very pleased to yield to my partner, Senator
Klobuchar.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I come to the Senate floor to join my
friend and colleague from Maine, Senator Collins, who has for so long
been a leader on this issue. I thank her for that and thank her for her
very strong remarks.
This is a horrible disease. Senator Collins did a very good job of
going through the costs to our country. Mr. President, 5.2 million
Americans are already living with Alzheimer's, and by 2050 an estimated
13.5 million Americans will be living with the disease. Also, $226
billion is being spent in 2015 caring for individuals with Alzheimer's,
and by 2050 costs will reach $1.1 trillion.
Those are the numbers. They are pretty stunning numbers, but I think
we all know we are not just here to talk about the numbers. We are here
to talk about the people. Every single Senator in this Chamber knows
someone who is suffering from Alzheimer's or someone who has died from
Alzheimer's. So this resolution, yes, it is about the numbers and being
smarter about how we spend our money to prevent this horrible disease
from occurring in the first place, but it is also for that daughter who
goes to see her mom every day in the assisted living care facility and
with each and every day her mom's memory slips away to the point where
she does not remember who she is anymore.
It is for that wife who has valiantly cared for her husband as it
gets harder and harder and harder as he goes wandering around the
neighborhood and gets lost. She does not know if she can leave him at
home anymore. That is what this is about. Every single person in this
Chamber and every single person back home knows of someone who suffers
from this disease.
The only way to stem the tide of this devastating disease is through,
as the great Senator from Maine mentioned, through research. Yes, a lot
of that research is going on in Minnesota, both at the University of
Minnesota and at the Mayo Clinic. If we were able to delay the onset of
Alzheimer's by just 5 years, similar to the effect that anticholesterol
drugs have had on preventing heart disease, we would be able to
significantly cut the government's spending on Alzheimer's care, but
more importantly we would be able to give these families extra years,
extra time, less time battling this disease.
We all know the answers to Alzheimer's will not just drop out of the
sky. If that was true, it would have been cured a long time ago. It
will take dedicated scientists, advanced research initiatives, and
skilled doctors with knowledge of the disease to conduct trials and
care for as many patients as possible until we find a cure.
That is why we are coming together for this important resolution,
which resolves simply that the Senate will strive to double the funding
the United States spends on Alzheimer's research in 2016 and will
develop a plan to meet the target of $2 billion a year in Alzheimer's
research funding over the next 5 years.
As Senator Collins mentioned, this effort is led on the national
level by Dr. Ronald Petersen, a Minnesota native and a leading
researcher. He agrees this is the time to move forward to get this
research done. What kind of research are we talking about? I remember
first hearing about some of the
[[Page S1006]]
work Mayo had done and realizing they were focusing on trying to
identify this disease early to be able to figure out if people were
getting it early.
I thought: That is great, but how does that help? They still have the
disease. What I learned is the earlier they can identify the disease,
then the earlier they can start those trials so they can tell what is
working or not. If they wait too long to identify the disease, it is
nearly impossible to tell what kind of potential cures work and what do
not.
This is a very important part of this initiative, which is to be able
to immediately identify what those risk factors are when they think
someone actually has Alzheimer's. Two years ago the United States
launched the BRAIN Initiative, which is a national research effort to
map the human brain in hopes of finding new ways to prevent and cure
brain diseases. Similar to the Human Genome Project, I think we can
expect this initiative to truly be a game-changer that stimulates the
next generation of scientific development.
There is always more knowledge we need to get. There are always more
treatments to discover. There are more diseases to cure. That is why it
is so important that we continue funding and actually increase funding
to the National Institutes of Health. Earlier this year I introduced,
with Senator Durbin and others, a bill to boost funding for NIH by 5
percent a year and also other key Federal research agencies. The
American Cures Act would reverse the trend of declining Federal
investment in medical research and fuel the next generation of
biomedical discoveries.
I care a lot about this. During the government shutdown I will never
forget Senator Collins once again led the effort to find our way out of
that with 14 of us in a bipartisan effort. I gave my entire salary to
NIH because I wanted to make the point that every day we go without
developing that cure for Alzheimer's, without supporting our scientists
who are doing that work, is another day where someone else dies of this
disease. It is another loved one we lose.
Another effort I think is very important when we look at this is
precision medicine. We should be supporting efforts to further the
field of precision medicine, which holds the promise of revolutionizing
the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases. By better
understanding genetic variations within diseases such as Alzheimer's,
we can develop targeted, more effective treatments.
Of course caregivers are the last thing I wish to talk about. If you
know someone with Alzheimer's, then you also know their family member
or their friend who is taking care of them. Many of the caregivers have
children themselves. That is why they are called the sandwich
generation. They are literally sandwiched between taking care of their
own children and taking care of their aging mother or father.
Just as we addressed the needs of moms and dads in the 1970s, started
working on things such as childcare benefits, we must now address the
needs of our working sons and daughters and those who are simply
devoting their lives to taking care of an aging relative, someone with
Alzheimer's. This goes on every day. People have decided to quit their
jobs or they have to decide to take a different job or they have to
decide to go part time simply to take care of their loved one.
In 2013 more than 15 million family members and friends cared for
someone with Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia, often at
the expense of their own jobs and their own well-being. That is why I
am continuing to work on legislation called the Americans Giving Care
to Elders Act that would give family caregivers a tax credit and other
assistance to help alleviate the financial burdens that come with
caring for a loved one.
So these are some ideas, but we know at its core the best thing to do
is to stop this terrible disease from the beginning. That means living
up to the expectations the people of this country have for us; that is,
to do what is best for them; that is, to put forward the dollars we
need to do the research.
I know some great doctors in Minnesota and across the country who
will put that money to good use.
Let's go forward, let's cure this disease, and we call on the Senate
to pass the resolution Senator Collins and I are submitting.
____________________