Alzheimer’s Association Statement on President Bush’s FY ’08 Budget Proposal

The president’s budget for 2008 continues a dangerous trend of cutting funding for scientific research and essential services to individuals with debilitating and fatal diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. 

The federal government must adopt policies that head off looming crises in the delivery of health care services.  Instead the president’s budget threatens to make the crises worse and bring them on sooner.

Alzheimer’s is already taking a terrible toll on millions of Americans and is poised to cause even more devastation in the future. The aging of today’s baby boomers makes it a national imperative that we find cures and alleviate the hardships inherent in today’s treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.  If we don’t, Medicare and Medicaid will go bankrupt, and our nation will be unable to cope with the result.

The president’s budget priorities not only cut funding for current services, they may actually reverse the strides that have been made in the last decade toward finding solutions. In recent years, there have been incredible achievements in diagnosis, genetics, and treatment. Researchers are close to discovering disease-modifying drugs that will change the lives of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The president’s budget has the potential to undo those scientific accomplishments and slow future progress.

In Alzheimer research, we’ve built a bridge two-thirds across the river and the president’s budget means we may not be able to finish it, certainly not in time to prevent the devastating effects of this disease on our society. And, the sad reality is that the funding needed to bring these treatments to fruition, in the context of a multi-trillion dollar budget, are so small they would be easily accommodated without compromising the budget disciplines we all seek to achieve.

The nation is at a pivotal crossroads where increasing federal funding for research is critical or the consequences dire. The president’s budget for research on Alzheimer’s fails to even keep up with medical inflation resulting in fewer dollars for Alzheimer’s disease research and certainly not what’s necessary to bring those disease-modifying treatments on the threshold of discovery to the people that need them most. Recent studies have shown that an increase in research funding by $300 million annually may be enough to achieve the kind of breakthroughs that would eventually save $50 billion in Medicare costs and $10 billion in Medicaid costs alone.

In addition to research, the president’s budget also slashes funding for critical programs to improve services and care related to Alzheimer’s disease. Funding for two such programs currently administered by the Administration on Aging is eliminated. One is the Alzheimer’s Association 24/7 Contact Center, which provides support and assistance for nearly 30,000 calls each month. The other is a matching grants program to states for the development of innovative and cost effective programs for delivering services to those with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers, especially in underserved-communities. The two programs are funded this year at approximately $1 million and $12 million, respectively.

The budget, if passed, would also eliminate funding for a Justice Department program called Safe Return®, which monitors those with Alzheimer’s disease who wander away from home and returns them safely to their loved ones.  Safe Return costs the government pennies a day, but provides priceless peace of mind for families across the country. The program, administered by the Alzheimer’s Association, has a 98 percent success rate for registered individuals and is celebrated by law enforcement officers nationwide because it helps to reduce their use of scarce resources to locate Alzheimer wanderers.  Current funding for Safe Return is approximately $840,000.

Alzheimer’s disease is reaching epidemic levels in the United States with the nation’s 77 million baby Bboomers standing in the wings, waiting to join the ranks. Today there are 4.5 million people with Alzheimer’s and this number will swell to as many as 16 million by mid-century, if increased public and private investment isn’t made now. The Association calls on the public to write and email members of Congress and urge them to protect existing Alzheimer programs and increase research funding.
 
The Alzheimer’s Association, a world leader in Alzheimer research and support, is the first and largest voluntary health organization dedicated to finding prevention methods, treatments and an eventual cure. For more than 25 years, the donor-supported, not-for-profit Alzheimer’s Association has provided reliable information and care consultation; created supportive services for families; increased funding for dementia research; and influenced public policy changes.

The Alzheimer's Association vision is a world without Alzheimer's and its mission is to eliminate Alzheimer's disease 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.

Contact:
Toni Williams, Alzheimer’s Association
202.638.8666
toni.williams@alz.org