Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton would like to increase spending on Alzheimer’s research by $2 billion annually for over a decade, with a goal of curing the disease by 2025.
Mrs. Clinton’s plan calls for the appointment of a team to oversee the effort and consult regularly with top researchers to help ensure their progress. The U.S. spends about $586 million annually in Alzheimer’s research currently, a sum Mrs. Clinton finds woefully inadequate.
“We owe it to the millions of families who stay up at night worrying about their loved ones afflicted by this terrible disease and facing the hard reality of the long goodbye to make research investments that will prevent, effectively treat and make a cure possible by 2025,” Mrs. Clinton said in a statement Tuesday. “The best scientific minds tell us we have a real chance to make groundbreaking progress on curing this disease and relieving the pain so many families feel every day. My plan will set us on that course.”
For every $261 Medicare and Medicaid spends on caring for those with Alzheimer’s, the U.S. government spends $1 on research, government records show.
Alzheimer’s is a disease that causes progressive, irreversible mental deterioration in middle- to old-age individuals, and is the most common form of dementia. The disease makes it impossible for individuals to remember how to carry out even the smallest of tasks.
Five million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s today, and nearly 15 million are expected to be affected by 2050, with Alzheimer’s being the 6th leading cause of death in the United States, according to a press release put out by the campaign.
“This is the first time that a presidential candidate has released a bold, substantive plan to address this disease, and it is urgently needed,” said Robert Egge, the executive director of the Alzheimer’s Impact Movement, in a conference call unveiling the program.
The effort also helps Mrs. Clinton reach a key demographic within her party.
Almost two-thirds of the people over the age of 65 who have Alzheimer’s are women, as are their caregivers. And blacks and Hispanics are more likely to develop the disease than their white counterparts.
Last month Mrs. Clinton proposed a caregiver tax credit to those caring for those in need.
It’s unclear exactly how Mrs. Clinton would pay for the plan. Campaign aides said the program would be paid for through “tax reform proposals and other savings” that will be described more in depth in the new year.
Mrs. Clinton has been a long supporter of Alzheimer’s research. While serving in the Senate, Mrs. Clinton, along with Republican Sen. Susan M. Collins, formed a group to advance the cause of Alzheimer’s prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
And in the Senate, the issue is largely bipartisan.
Republican Sen. Roy Blunt, who is chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies, fought for increased funding to the National Institutes of Health in the omnibus appropriations bill this month.
The bill helped narrow the gap in Alzheimer’s funding by providing a $350 million increase for Alzheimer’s research at the National Institute on Aging, a 60 percent increase over last year’s level.
Over the past year, NIH-supported research identified a set of 10 compounds in blood that might be used to distinguish the risk for developing memory deficits or Alzheimer’s disease, Mr. Blunt said in a December 16 press release.
“I often disagree with @HillaryClinton but on #Alzheimers she is moving in the right direction,” former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich tweeted on Tuesday in response to Mrs. Clinton’s plan.
• Kelly Riddell can be reached at kriddell@washingtontimes.com.
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