Senate Resolution 303--Declaring that Achieving the Primary Goal of the National Plan to Addres 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 Priorty

Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I am very pleased to be here on the Senate floor with my friend and colleague from Minnesota Senator Klobuchar as we submit an important resolution.

This month is National Alzheimer's Awareness Month. Alzheimer's is a terrible disease that exacts a tremendous personal and economic toll on both the individual and the family. As have many families, mine has experienced the pain of Alzheimer's. I know there is no more helpless feeling than to watch the progression of this devastating disease. It is equally painful to witness the emotional and physical damage inflicted on family caregivers exhausted by an endless series of 36-hour days.

Moreover, Alzheimer's disease is the only cause of death among the top 10 in our Nation without a way to prevent it, to cure it, or even to slow its progression. More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease--more than double the number in 1980. Based on current projections, as many as 16 million Americans over the age of 65 will have Alzheimer's by the year 2050.

In addition to the tremendous human suffering it causes, Alzheimer's costs the United States more than $200 billion a year, including $142 billion in costs to the Medicare and Medicaid Programs. This price tag will increase exponentially as the baby boom generation ages. If we fail to change the current trajectory of Alzheimer's disease, our country will not only face a mounting public health crisis but an economic one as well. If nothing is done to slow or stop this disease, the Alzheimer's Association estimates that Alzheimer's will cost our country an astonishing $20 trillion over the next 40 years.

It is estimated that nearly one in two baby boomers reaching the age of 85 will develop Alzheimer's. As a consequence, chances are the members of the baby boom generation will either be spending their golden years suffering from 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 disease research. According to a study commissioned by the National Institute on Aging, Alzheimer's and other dementias cost the United States more than cancer and heart disease. This study finds that both the costs and number of people with dementia will more than double within 30 years--skyrocketing at a rate that rarely occurs with a chronic disease.

At a time when the cost to Medicare and Medicaid of caring for Alzheimer's patients exceeds $140 billion a year, we are spending only slightly more than $500 million on Alzheimer's research. We are spending $142 billion under Medicare and Medicaid, more than $200 billion overall, and yet only $500 million on research. We currently spend $6 billion a year for cancer research, $3 billion a year for research on HIV/AIDS, and $2 billion for cardiovascular research. And I wish to emphasize that those are always worthy investments--investments that have paid dividends in terms of better treatments, cures, and in some cases prolonged lives. Surely we can do more for Alzheimer's given the tremendous human and economic price of this devastating disease.

The National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease was authorized by a bipartisan law passed in 2010 called the National Alzheimer's Project Act, which I authored with then-Senator Evan Bayh.

The national plan has as its primary goal to ``prevent and effectively treat Alzheimer's disease by 2025.'' The chairman of the Advisory Council on Alzheimer's Research, Care, and Services, which was created by the National Alzheimer's Project Act, has testified before Congress that the United States must devote at least $2 billion a year to Alzheimer's research to achieve that goal.

I am therefore joining with my colleague from Minnesota Senator Klobuchar in submitting this resolution declaring that the goal of preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer's by 2025 is an urgent national priority. Our resolution recognizes that dramatic increases in research funding are necessary to meet that goal and resolves that the Senate will strive to double the amount of funding the United States spends on Alzheimer's research in fiscal year 2015 and then develop a plan to meet the target of $2 billion a year over the next 5 years.

Just think of the figures. We are spending some $212 billion a year treating, caring for people with Alzheimer's. All we are asking is that over the next 5 years we achieve the goal that the Alzheimer's Council--a council of experts in Alzheimer's--including experts from the Mayo Clinic in Senator Klobuchar's home State, have recommended that we spend $2 billion. Mr. President, $2 billion is such a tiny percentage of the amount we are spending.

So this is a worthy investment. It is one that will not only relieve suffering, save lives, potentially, but it will also more than pay for itself.

I urge our colleagues to join us as cosponsors.

I ask unanimous consent that letters from the Alzheimer's Association and the UsAgainstAlzheimer's group--both predominant national advocacy groups endorsing our resolution--be printed in the Record.

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