Expressing Gratitude for Strong Leadership in the Fight Against Alzheimer's

In Illinois, over 250,000 people are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease, yet most are not identified early enough to benefit from today’s FDA-approved treatments. As someone who was a caregiver, I know the importance of early detection and the difference it can make for families. My siblings and I helped my mother care for my father who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2015, but only after overcoming barriers to early detection - long wait times to see a specialist and finding one who truly understood dementia. But there is hope for other individuals facing an Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis. Increased training to better equip primary care physicians who make the initial diagnosis in 85% of dementia cases (through the AADAPT Act), and a simple blood test that can now detect Alzheimer’s before symptoms appear - a scientific milestone that could change lives (through the ASAP Act).

The bipartisan Alzheimer’s Screening and Prevention (ASAP) Act creates a pathway for Medicare coverage of FDA-approved blood tests that detect Alzheimer’s biomarkers - tests that provide a simpler, more scalable approach than previous pathways. Under current law, Medicare cannot cover any dementia screening test for people without symptoms - a legal barrier only Congress can fix. This is a “mammogram moment” for Alzheimer’s - just as Congress enabled Medicare to cover routine mammograms, leading to earlier detection and declining breast cancer deaths, Congress can deliver the same breakthrough moment for Alzheimer's disease.

My family has a strong history with Alzheimer’s disease, spanning nearly 60 years and resulting in the loss of five family members and a sixth who is currently living with mixed dementia as a result of Parkinson’s disease. The passage of the ASAP Act would give me, my siblings and my extended family hope within the fear that one of us may receive an Alzheimer's diagnosis. Hope that even with a potential diagnosis, detecting biomarkers early would provide us with time to access current treatments.

Please join me and the Alzheimer’s Association in thanking Congressman Mike Quigley for cosponsoring the bipartisan Accelerating Access to Dementia & Alzheimer’s Provider Training (AADAPT) Act and the Alzheimer’s Screening and Prevention (ASAP) Act, and ask him to tell congressional leadership to move this bill ASAP!

If you or a loved one have received an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, or for more information on this disease and how you can join the fight to end Alzheimer's, visit alz.org.

Nancy Reed

Palatine, IL