A bipartisan group of senators have asked President Obama to push for more funding to combat Alzheimer’s disease in his annual budget, before the ailment more than triples over the next few decades.
“If nothing is done to change the trajectory of Alzheimer’s, the number of Americans afflicted with the disease is expected to triple between 2015 and 2050,” according to the letter from Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and seven others.
The senators said the U.S. is spending more than $200 billion a year to care for Alzheimer’s patients, but just a fraction of that amount on research. They said a national plan to fight the disease recommended $2 billion a year, and said Obama should push for that level of funding in his new budget request for fiscal year 2017.
Congress boosted funding for Alzheimer’s disease research by $350 million, the government is short of that $2 billion target and instead is spending $936 million each year.
“We, therefore, urge you to boost our current investment in Alzheimer’s research in your fiscal year 2017 budget request and ask that you work with us to support efforts to meet the research investment objective set forth in the national plan,” the senators wrote.
Even if Obama requested the extra money, Congress would still have to approve it. However, there are already several efforts in Congress intended to boost medical research. The House passed the 21st Century Cures Act last year that gives the National Institutes of Health $10 billion in more funding over five years, and the Senate is expected to take up a similar package this year.
The other senators who signed the letter were Jerry Moran, R-Kansas; Edward Markey, D-Mass.; Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.; Mark Warner, D-Va.; Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.; Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
