In forthcoming health debate, Senate Must Protect Medicaid and Critical Patient Protections

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WASHINGTON, DC, July 25, 2017 – Following the United States Senate’s affirmative vote to proceed to debate a potential replacement bill for the Affordable Care Act, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Co-Founder and Chairman George Vradenburg has issued the following statement, calling for any future legislation to protect and enhance access to care for essential Alzheimer’s medical and care services.

“We must not be fooled by a procedural vote. UsAgainstAlzheimer’s is concerned by any momentum in Congress to advance policies that may weaken or eliminate health care for people with Alzheimer’s and related dementias,” Vradenburg said. “We urge Congress to ensure that the impact of health reform on millions of elderly, sick and low-income Americans is a central consideration in any forthcoming deliberation of a replacement bill.”

One in four individuals with Alzheimer’s or dementia relies on Medicaid to help cover a range of services including home- and community-based assistance, such as bathing, dressing, preparing meals and managing medication.

While a majority of people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias receive home-based care, often by uncompensated family members, many people with dementia are also cared for in adult day centers, assisted-living facilities and nursing homes given the intensive assistance needed. However, assisted living ($43,200 annual average) and nursing home care ($80,300 annual average) are very costly. With the number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s projected to grow to approximately 8 million by 2030, Medicaid will play an increasingly important role in supporting families.

UsAgainstAlzheimer’s will continue to earnestly champion efforts that improve Medicaid benefits for Americans who are coping with the daunting burden of this disease, and it will reject any legislation that may reduce protections for people with or at risk of Alzheimer’s or related dementias.   

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UsAgainstAlzheimer's is an innovative, patient-centered non-profit demanding – and delivering – a solution to Alzheimer’s. Driven by the suffering of millions of families, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s presses for greater urgency from government, industry and the scientific community in the quest for an Alzheimer's cure – accomplishing this through its own patient-centered effective leadership, collaborative advocacy and strategic investments.

Founded in 2010, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s has worked across sectors to: (1) secure the national goal of preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer’s by 2025; (2) help secure nearly $1 billion in additional public funding for Alzheimer’s research over the past few years; (3) drive global efforts that resulted in the leaders of the world’s most powerful nations, the G7 group, to embrace a similar 2025 goal and to call for greater levels of research investment and collaboration; (4) transform the system of Alzheimer’s clinical trials for greater speed, efficiency and quality; and (5) forge a global process of industry, regulators and payers to bring greater clarity to the approval and payment of innovative medicines for Alzheimer’s.

Contact: Tim Tassa


Phone: 202-263-2580


Email: [email protected]