Alzheimer's Disease and Alabamians

Letter to the Editor

12/29/2025

Dear Editor,

As many as half of the over 103,600 Alabamians living with Alzheimer’s are not diagnosed. Yet an early and accurate diagnosis can improve the quality of life and reduce the financial impact of the disease. Earlier detection and diagnosis would allow people to plan for future decisions, access treatments when they would be most effective, and implement modifiable risk reduction strategies.

As both a person that helped care for my grandmother that had dementia and a current researcher on caregiving, I understand firsthand the importance of early detection and diagnosis.

Thankfully, Representative Mike Rogers can play an important role in accelerating access to blood biomarker tests and earlier detection of Alzheimer’s and other dementia in Alabama and across the nation. The bipartisan ASAP Act creates a pathway for Medicare coverage of FDA-approved blood biomarker screening tests. The ASAP Act would also allow coverage for future test methods approved and cleared by the FDA, helping to ensure beneficiaries do not face unnecessary delays or barriers to detection and treatment. The bipartisan ASAP Act will not only improve patient care but also help facilitate smoother transitions from primary care to specialists — reducing the burden on overextended health care workers and helping to alleviate bottlenecks in the health care system.

Please join me and the Alzheimer’s Association in encouraging Representative Rogers to support the bipartisan Alzheimer’s Screening and Prevention (ASAP) Act.

To learn more about this disease and how you can join the fight to end Alzheimer’s, visit alz.org.

Sincerely,

Maizonne Fields

Birmingham, AL