Congress must address Alzheimer’s, the crisis at our holiday tables

Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

This holiday season, more than 11 million Americans are caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. They may notice their father forgets their daughter’s name again, or that he can no longer navigate his own home without assistance. More than just heartbreaking, it is a policy failure playing out in millions of American homes.

Beyond the emotional toll, Alzheimer’s is a fiscal ticking time bomb. Care costs families and taxpayers more than $300 billion a year — a number projected to climb into the trillions as cases double from 7 million to 14 million by 2060. The country is staring down an economic and caregiving burden it is not prepared to manage. Early detection would allow patients to begin treatment and maintain independence, keeping patients out of long-term care facilities longer. But instead of prioritizing early detection and timely treatment, coverage barriers created by both Medicare and private insurers are making it harder for families to embark on necessary care paths.

The bipartisan Alzheimer’s Screening and Prevention (ASAP) Act — just introduced in the House — would help cut through some of the red tape by expanding access to diagnostic tools that would allow families to begin lifestyle or medical interventions, months or years earlier than the current system allows.

Breakthrough blood-based biomarker tests can now detect Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms, in what the FDA calls Stages 1 and 2. Yet even if the FDA clears these tests for this new use, these diagnostics would remain out of reach for millions because Medicare and private payers would refuse to cover them.

Under current law, Medicare can only cover diagnostic services that Congress has explicitly authorized or that are recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. This process lags years behind scientific advances. Private insurers then point to Medicare’s silence to justify their own denials, exclusions, or prior-authorization hurdles, trapping patients in the same bureaucratic loop regardless of their insurance plan.

The ASAP Act would modernize this outdated system by allowing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to cover the FDA-approved biomarker tests. This change would give 70 million Medicare beneficiaries access to early detection, also setting a new national coverage standard for private insurers. Voters overwhelmingly agree: 83% of voters in swing districts believe early detection saves taxpayers money, and 90% say Medicare should cover diagnostic blood tests.

Detection in Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the disease gives patients more time to make changes that can lengthen a healthy life. Evidence-based lifestyle interventions such as heart-healthy diets, physical activity, and better cardiovascular management are shown to help slow cognitive and functional decline. Early detection also gives families time to consider medical interventions, when necessary.

When patients do seek medical treatments, they encounter another payer-created roadblock. Two FDA-approved Alzheimer’s treatments are shown to slow decline in early-stage patients. Yet instead of respecting the FDA’s assessment of the treatments’ efficacy, Medicare imposed an unprecedented registry requirement that forces doctors to enter patient data into a federal database before prescribing treatment. Small and rural clinics struggle to comply, and private insurers replicate Medicare’s restrictions, using them to justify denials and delays. And when Medicare sets unreasonable hurdles, commercial plans follow, ensuring patients face barriers at every turn.

Ninety-two percent of voters in swing districts say Medicare should eliminate these restrictions. They understand that this policy doesn’t protect patients — it punishes them.

Together, early detection, lifestyle interventions, and timely access to treatment form the backbone of a modern Alzheimer’s strategy. The ASAP Act moves the system forward by expanding diagnostic access, and, if it passes, could prompt the rest of the market to update their coverage policies to improve access to Alzheimer’s breakthroughs.

This holiday season, many families will see the Alzheimer’s crisis at their own tables. These painful moments show that the cost of inaction is not abstract. It will be measured in the strain on families and the escalating long-term care costs that will fall on taxpayers.

If nothing changes, Alzheimer’s cases will climb to 14 million by 2060 — bankrupting families first and the federal budget next. But if Congress seizes this moment, pairs bipartisan momentum with American scientific leadership, and ensures coverage policies across both public and private insurance reflect today’s science, we can extend happier, healthier years for millions of Americans and their families.

Charles Sauer is the president of the Market Institute, and the author of Profit Motive: What Drives the Things We Do.

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