Hillary Clinton is taking her new proposal to combat Alzheimer’s disease to the campaign trail, touting her plan in a new ad running in New Hampshire.
The 30-second ad features a librarian named Keith Thompson who talks about how he cares for his mom, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
“I worry about what the next step is, my mom deserves the best care she can get,” Thompson says. “So I met Hillary Clinton. I could tell she was moved by my story because she teared up.”
At a campaign stop in Iowa Tuesday, Clinton promised that if elected president she would increase funding for Alzheimer’s research four times the current levels, spending $2 billion per year with the goal of finding a cure by 2025. The funding also would be used to research ways to prevent and effectively treat the disease, the Democratic frontrunner said.
Advocates for Alzheimer’s prevention praised her proposal. Ian Kremer, director of Leaders Engaged on Alzheimer’s Disease (LEAD), urged other political candidates to come up with their own proposals to combat the disease, for which there is no known cure.
“The American people have a right to expect detailed and ambitious dementia action plans from every candidate for president — and every candidate or officeholder in Congress, the governorships, and state legislatures,” Kremer said.
Congress recently approved more funding for Alzheimer’s research in a year-end spending deal that keeps the government funded through September 2016. Under the agreement, research on the disease will receive $350 million more per year.
