Research funding for Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s is expensive. How expensive? About $259 billion expensive. What does $259 billion even look like? You can give every man, woman and child in the U.S. $805.85, or buy 8,633,333 cars valued at $30,000. If it was miles you could go around the globe 10,412,478.9 times. This year, the annual cost of caring for the individuals living with Alzheimer’s or other dementias will reach $259 billion, $175 billion of which comes in direct costs to Medicare and Medicaid. In 2016, for every $100 the U.S. government spent on Alzheimer’s research, $16,000 was spent by Medicare and Medicaid to care for those living with the disease. I am proud that in Michigan, Reps. Jack Bergman, Bill Huizenga, John Moolenaar, Daniel Kildee, Fred Upton, Tim Walberg, Mike Bishop, Sander Levin, Paul Mitchell, Dave Trott, Debbie Dingell, John Conyers and Brenda Lawrence voted for this historic increase. Rep. John Moolenaar even talked about the impact of Alzheimer’s on the house floor.