Factsheet: Hillary Clinton's Plan to Defeat Alzheimer's
On the campaign trail, Hillary has heard stories from caregivers
dealing with Alzheimer's patients. Here is her plan of attack on this
condition that creates havoc in families.
Hillary Clinton’s Plan to Prevent, Effectively Treat and Make a Cure Possible by 2025
The signature piece of Hillary Clinton’s commitment to target and defeat the diseases of our day is a groundbreaking investment in research to prevent, effectively treat and make possible a cure to Alzheimer’s disease by 2025. She also outlined new measures to support family caregivers and improve caregiving for individuals living with Alzheimer’s, building
on the robust caregiving agenda she announced last month. Her
proposals, informed by experts in the scientific and caregiving
communities, will enable our country to make a cure possible and provide needed relief to millions of Alzheimer’s patients and their families. Background on Alzheimer’s in the United States
Alzheimer’s
is the most common form of dementia, primarily impacting older
Americans, but also taking a toll on younger Americans who suffer from
early-onset Alzheimer’s. As brain cells degenerate, memories and mental
function are lost and lives are cut short.
More than five million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s. With the median age of the American population rising, the
overall number of people suffering from Alzheimer’s is expected to grow
nearly threefold to nearly 15 million Americans by 2050. Alzheimer’s is the 6th
leading cause of death in the United States and is the only cause in
the top ten for which we lack the ability to prevent, cure or even slow
it. The FDA has not approved a new compound to treat the disease in more than a decade.
In
addition, the disease takes a toll on the millions of family members
who care for them, too many of whom have to choose between their work
and their caregiving and too many suffer an impact on their emotional
and physical health as a result of their responsibilities. Alzheimer’s
is also one of the costliest diseases in America: Its annual cost,
combined with those of related dementias, exceeds $200 billion. Recent
reports suggest that by 2050 the total cost may exceed $1 trillion per
year. In its human and financial costs, Alzheimer’s stands
out—yet the fight against Alzheimer’s and other dementias is underfunded
relative to these tremendous costs. Hillary Clinton believes that it is
time for dramatic action to find a solution.
And thanks to Maria Shriver’s groundbreaking reporting in The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Takes on Alzheimer’s,
we know now that women are at the epicenter of the epidemic: two-thirds
of the people over age 65 who have Alzheimer’s are women, as are a
majority of Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers.
We also know from
epidemiological research that both African-American and Latino
individuals have an elevated prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease. Evidence
suggests that the prevalence of Alzheimer’s and other dementias among
older African-American individuals is twice as high as it is among older
white individuals, and the prevalence among older Latino individuals is
one and a half times as high as among as older white individuals. Preventing and Effectively Treating Alzheimer’s by 2025
In
the last few years, researchers have begun to illuminate the basis of
this dreaded disease. The Alzheimer’s Association has noted that nearly
all we know about Alzheimer’s, we have learned within the last 15 years,
due in large part to significant federal investments in research. We
have developed new knowledge of the roots of Alzheimer’s, the genes and
other biomarkers that indicate susceptibility to the disease, pathways
by which the disease progresses, and promising methods of preventing and
treating it. Yet it is clear that the research is underfunded
and intensive transdisciplinary research is needed to fully understand
and conquer this disease.
Hillary Clinton has consulted
with leading physician-scientists to understand what it would take to
rapidly accelerate the progress we are making. Her proposal, invoking
the grand tradition of American scientific discovery, takes what was
once a remote possibility – developing a cure for Alzheimer’s – and
invests the needed resources, organizes a broad national effort, and
inspires leaders in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors to
develop effective interventions to prevent and effectively treat
Alzheimer’s and related dementias, thereby making a cure possible.
Clinton’s plan will:
Commit to preventing, effectively treating and making a cure possible for Alzheimer’s by 2025. Top
researchers have noted that this is achievable if we make the
commitment, marshal the resources, and provide the needed leadership.
The National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease, authorized by the
congressionally-enacted National Alzheimer’s Project Act, has set out
this goal – and Clinton will embrace it as a top priority of her
administration and make it a reality for those afflicted with this
disease and their families. This will be a critical milestone on the
pathway to a cure, potentially saving millions of lives and billions of
dollars.
Dedicate a historic decade-long investment of $2 billion per year for Alzheimer’s research and related disorders. This
past year, the National Institutes of Health invested $586 million in
Alzheimer’s research, less than 1% of the annual cost of this disease.
The newly approved appropriations bill would add $350 million in annual
investment for Alzheimer’s research. As part of her new
investment in NIH, Clinton would build on this commitment and rapidly
ramp up our investment to $2 billion annually, the level leading
researchers have determined is needed to prevent and effectively treat
Alzheimer’s and make a cure possible by 2025.
Ensure a reliable stream of funding between now and 2025. Just
as important as increasing the level of investment, Clinton will fight
to make funding predictable and reliable between now and 2025 so that
researchers can work consistently toward effective treatments and a
cure. This gives researchers greater freedom to pursue the big, creative
bets – including cross-collaboration with researchers in related fields
– that can result in dramatic pay-offs not only for Alzheimer’s but for
other neurodegenerative illnesses as well.
Establish a plan of action with NIH, leading researchers, and other stakeholders to see the 2025 goal through. Clinton
will appoint a top-flight team to oversee this initiative and consult
regularly with researchers to ensure progress toward achieving the
treatment target. She knows that reaching the goal will involve
investments across the drug development cycle, from basic research to
applied and translational research to public-private partnerships for
clinical research. She will also work with stakeholders across sectors
to recruit participants for clinical trials—a tremendous obstacle to
developing new therapies. At each stage, her plan will embrace a range
of approaches to drive new knowledge into effective treatments.
Making
this bold new research investment in preventing and effectively
treating Alzheimer’s will pay off not just for Alzheimer’s disease but
for a range of neurodegenerative illnesses, from Parkinson’s disease to
Lewy body dementia to frontotemporal dementia, and will also help us
understand the intersection of Alzheimer’s with other conditions,
including the high rate of individuals with Down syndrome who experience
early-onset Alzheimer’s.
This commitment to Alzheimer’s research
is only part of Clinton’s overall commitment to a substantial increase
in investment at the National Institutes of Health to prevent, treat,
and secure cures for the broad array of diseases that afflict Americans. Easing the Burden of Alzheimer’s
Studies
estimate that by 2050, nearly 15 million individuals aged 65 and older
will be living with Alzheimer’s disease. Each of those 15 million would
require caregiving and family support.
A number of questions exist
as to the extent to which Alzheimer’s is accurately and timely
diagnosed and disclosed to patients and caregivers—and the extent to
which patients are empowered to play a role in planning their future
care. Clinton understands the enormous weight that Alzheimer’s disease
imposes on an ever-growing number of Americans and their families. The proposals Clinton announced today build on the robust caregiving agenda she outlined last month.
In addition to fighting for all caregivers by providing tax relief to
family members who care for ailing parents and grandparents, counting
the hard work of family caregivers toward Social Security, expanding
access to family caregiver respite, supporting paid family leave for
caregivers, and creating a new Care Workers Initiative across the
federal government to address the needs of paid caregivers, Clinton’s
caregiving policies will also address specific needs of those living
with Alzheimer’s and the family members who care for them.
Clinton’s plan will:
Cover comprehensive Alzheimer’s care-planning services and help coordinate care among physicians.
Beyond the difficulty of planning for Alzheimer’s care, Alzheimer’s
complicates the management of other conditions—from which more than 2 in
3 patients with Alzheimer’s or other dementias suffer. Care-planning
sessions empower caregivers and patients to understand their diagnosis,
know their options, benefit from existing community services and
supports, and plan in advance how to manage caregiving and treatment for
their conditions. Even the simple act of documenting a patient’s
dementia diagnosis and care plan can spark better management of other
conditions across health care providers and minimize painful and costly
complications. Clinton will fight for Medicare to cover a
comprehensive care-planning session with a clinician following every new
diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or related dementias—and through the proper
documentation of the diagnosis and care plan, promote coordinated care
across physicians. These initiatives are consistent with the
HOPE for Alzheimer’s Act, a bipartisan effort championed by Senator
Debbie Stabenow and Representative Christopher Smith, and would propel
outcomes recommended by the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s
Disease.
Help protect loved ones who wander. At
least 6 in 10 Alzheimer’s sufferers will wander from home at some point
in a state of profound disorientation—leaving them vulnerable to the
elements, traffic hazards, and crime. Their safety is of great concern. A
small but cost-effective federal grant program known as the Missing
Alzheimer’s Disease Patient Alert Program, which has funded nonprofit
initiatives to identify, locate, and protect Alzheimer’s patients who
wander—with a reported 98 percent success rate in finding individuals
reported missing—is currently up for reauthorization. Clinton will work with Congress to reauthorize the Missing Alzheimer’s Disease Patient Alert Program—a policy that will ensure families’ and caregivers’ improved access to coordinated help if their loved ones go missing.
Ensure our seniors know their Medicare benefits, including annual cognitive screening. While
Alzheimer’s cannot yet be cured, proper diagnosis and treatment can
make a vital difference in quality of life—and allow patients to play an
active role in planning for their future. Medicare already covers
annual wellness visits, including cognitive assessment, yet this benefit
is under-utilized: months or even years often pass between the first
signs of dementia and a medical diagnosis. Regular, holistic cognitive
screening—by a physician or other qualified practitioner in a medical
setting—can help identify gradual mental decline, reducing the
likelihood of missed or delayed dementia diagnosis. Clinton will direct
the Social Security Administration to raise awareness of the
Medicare-covered annual wellness visits and their associated preventive
and screening benefits, including the cognitive screening that
especially matters for Alzheimer’s and other related dementia, by
presenting this information alongside Social Security payments that
beneficiaries will open and read.
Hillary Clinton, Senator, Secretary of State, 2016 presidential candidate
More
than 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease today, and
that number is expected nearly to triple by 2050. I’ve met so many
families who are dealing with the heartbreaking reality of watching a
loved one’s memory and mental capacity slip away, all while they
struggle to find—and afford—the right care. Primary care physicians
are critical to planning and overseeing this process—and my proposed
plan will make it easier for them to do so.
