Increase Funding for Alzheimer’s Research

Alzheimer’s is a growing public health crisis. In 2017, the U.S. spent $259 billion in direct costs caring for individuals living with Alzheimer’s or other dementias, $175 billion of which came in direct costs to Medicare and Medicaid.

And while Congress has more than tripled Alzheimer’s and dementia research funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in recent years, leading experts say a greater investment is still needed.

The Alzheimer’s Association is asking Congress to approve an additional $425 million increase in the government’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget.

This affects Kentucky directly. Today, there are 70,000 individuals in Kentucky living with Alzheimer’s – the only leading cause of death without a way to prevent, cure or even slow its progression.

Barring the development of medical breakthroughs, the number of Americans with the disease is set to triple over the next 35 years, and the cost of care will increase to $1.1 trillion in 2050. It is only through adequate funding that we will change this trajectory.

The Alzheimer’s Association and its supporters are asking Central Kentuckians to join them in asking Representative Andy Barr to support an additional $425 million in Alzheimer’s and dementia research funding at the NIH. Together we can end Alzheimer’s.