Senator Collins Responds to Newly Released Alzheimer’s Association Data
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Susan Collins, co-chair of the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease, responded to new data from the Alzheimer’s Association. In its newly published 2024 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report, the Association released updated estimates on the prevalence, lethality, and economic toll of Alzheimer’s disease, along with data on the personal effects felt by caregivers.
“Alzheimer’s disease is one of the greatest and most under-recognized public health threats of our time. Millions of Americans and thousands of Mainers are living with the disease, and, as the 2024 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures data shows, the number of people affected by the disease is soaring as our overall population grows older and lives longer,” said Senator Collins. “That’s why I am urging my Senate Colleagues to pass legislation to continue coordinated federal investments in Alzheimer’s research and develop a public health infrastructure to combat this devastating disease across the country. We must remain steadfast in our efforts to study, treat, and one day cure Alzheimer’s.”
According to the report:
- 6.9 million Americans aged 65 and older have Alzheimer’s dementia, with 29,600 residing in Maine.
- Nationwide, between 2000 and 2021, the number of deaths from Alzheimer’s disease as recorded on death certificates more than doubled, increasing 141%.
- 539 Mainers died from the disease in 2021
- The disease was the fifth leading cause of death among older Americans in 2021.
- There were 51,000 dementia family caregivers in Maine, who provide a combined 87 million hours of care.
- Alzheimer’s disease costs the United States an estimated $360 billion per year.
- Without a breakthrough to prevent, slow, or cure Alzheimer’s, the number of Americans with Alzheimer’s is expected to nearly double by 2050, with total costs projected to reach nearly $1 trillion per year.
- The total lifetime cost of care for someone with dementia is estimated at almost $400,000
- 70% of these costs borne by family caregivers in the forms of unpaid caregiving and out-of-pocket expenses.
- To care for this increasing population in the State of Maine, the dementia care workforce will need to increase by 97% by the year 2050.
Last month, Senators Collins, Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced the Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Reauthorization Act of 2024. This legislation would reauthorize funding for public health initiatives across the country to combat Alzheimer’s disease and preserve brain health. These initiatives began when the original BOLD Act, authored by this same bipartisan group of four senators, was signed into law in 2018. With Senator Collins’ support, funding for the BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act has grown from $10 million in fiscal year 2020 to $33 million in fiscal year 2023.
In June, Senator Collins advanced a pair of bills that would cement and build on the important progress that has been made to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee by a 20-1 vote.
The National Alzheimer’s Project Reauthorization Act (NAPA) would ensure that research investments remain coordinated, and their impact maximized through 2035. The Alzheimer’s Accountability and Investment Act would also continue through 2035 a requirement that the Director of the National Institute of Health submit an annual budget to Congress estimating the funding necessary to fully implement NAPA’s research goals.
The Alzheimer’s Association is a worldwide voluntary health organization dedicated to Alzheimer’s care, support and research. Their mission is to lead the way to end Alzheimer's and all other dementia — by accelerating global research, driving risk reduction and early detection, and maximizing quality care and support.
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