Boost Alzheimer’s research

There is growing recognition of the challenges of Alzheimer’s disease, but the funding to find a cure lags dramatically behind what’s necessary. My family has become familiar with the devastating effects of this disease, as we lost my father to it recently.

For every $100 spent on Alzheimer’s research, Medicare and Medicaid programs spend $26,000 to care for people with the disease. Currently, there are 100,000 Washingtonians living with Alzheimer’s disease, and that number will grow to 140,000 by 2025.

We must invest more to find effective treatments and a cure. If we don’t, Alzheimer’s disease is a threat to the long-term financial viability of Medicare and Medicaid.

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a bill giving $350 million more to the National Institutes for Health for Alzheimer’s research. The House Committee has voted for $300 million. Even if the lower figure is signed into law, it would be a 50 percent increase in research funding for this disease.

I ask that you join me in urging Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, as well as Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, to vote for this vital Alzheimer’s research boost, and push to make sure it is in the appropriations bill enacted into law.

Mark Newbold

Spokane