Alzheimer disease advocates are calling for stepped-up measures to combat what is being called a “looming avalanche” of Alzheimer disease diagnoses in the United States.
Alzheimer disease prevalence in this country is projected to skyrocket in the next 40 years, tripling from 4.5 million now to more than 13 million. The national health infrastructure is simply not equipped to handle the increase, said Robert Egge of the Center for Health Transformation.
“The projections, not only in terms of the impact on individual lives, but also in national costs, are stunning,” Mr. Egge said in an interview. “Because of our national strategy—or rather the lack of it—we are not on the right footing to get a handle on this before it hits.”
The Center for Health Transformation, a health policy think-tank founded by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, advocates the development of a national AD strategic plan
Such a plan would address two facets of the problem: money and leadership, said Mr. Egge, director of the center's Alzheimer disease project.
The numbers are distressing, he and Mr. Gingrich pointed out in a recently published commentary. AD is the nation's third most expensive medical condition, consuming $100 billion each year in Medicare and Medicaid dollars.
“Without medical breakthroughs, as the Boomers pass through their elder years, federal spending on AD care will increase to more than $1 trillion per year by 2050, in today's dollars. That is more than 10% of America's current gross domestic product,” they wrote (Alzheimers Dement. 2007;3:239–42).
A national AD strategy would build the case for making substantial national investments in research for both early detection and pharmacotherapy, and urge the Food and Drug Administration to accelerate new drug evaluation, Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Egge wrote. A strategic plan also should help caregivers, perhaps by providing some kind of financial support to those who save Medicare money by keeping a patient at home as long as possible.
The Alzheimer's Association has joined the Center for Health Transformation in taking the first steps toward building a national plan. In mid-July, the two entities announced the formation of a study group cochaired by Mr. Gingrich and former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.). The group will consist of nonpartisan, independent health policy experts and is charged with evaluating the nation's efforts to combat the disease and recommend strategies for addressing shortcomings.