President Obama Proposes Increased Funding for Alzheimer’s Research

Now Congress must fulfill its commitment to combat Alzheimer’s and implement the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease

WASHINGTON, D.C. – USAgainstAlzheimer’s – the national community and movement committed to stopping Alzheimer’s by 2020 – applauded the Obama Administration for proposing to fulfill the pledge it made last year to increase funding for Alzheimer’s research and related initiatives in the Fiscal Year 2014 budget, and is urging Congress to include the funding in the FY 14 appropriations package.

In its FY 14 budget proposal released today, the Administration proposed to increase funding for the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the Institute within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that funds the majority of Alzheimer’s research, by $83 million. The bulk of this increase would be used to fund Alzheimer’s research. Specifically, the funds would build upon the recommendations that came out of the 2012 Alzheimer’s Research Summit. Overall, the Administration has proposed to fund the NIH at $31 billion for FY 14. 

“I am pleased that the Obama Administration is attempting to make good on its pledge of increased resources for Alzheimer’s research and I urge Congress to ensure this funding is included in the final appropriations bills for FY 14. This action recognizes further the Administration’s deep commitment to stopping Alzheimer’s disease by 2025, but the reality is that an $80 million increase is only a down payment of the total amount of funding that will be necessary to achieve the 2025 goal,” said George Vradenburg, Chairman and Co-Founder of USAgainstAlzheimer’s in response to the budget proposal.

“Alzheimer’s poses a public health and financial crisis greater than heart disease and cancer, and stands to bankrupt Medicare and Medicaid without a disease modifying treatment or cure. The President has held up his end of the bargain, and Congress must now follow suit: if our elected officials are serious about tackling our national debt, they must come to the table and approve this investment,” Vradenburg added.

One in three seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or other dementias in the United States. Without a disease modifying treatment or cure, the number of Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s is projected to triple from 5.2 million to more than 13.8 million by 2050, and cost the U.S. more than $1 trillion annually.  Last year, the United States issued a landmark National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease that established as goal one preventing and effectively treating the disease by 2025. Also last year, the Administration reallocated $50 million for Alzheimer’s research at the NIH, and proposed an additional increase of $80 million in FY 13, but that increase never occurred.

For more information or to speak to George Vradenburg, please contact Kyle Moler at [email protected] or 202-478-6173.

View our infographic on Alzheimer's costs vs. research funding here.

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USAgainstAlzheimer’s Action is a 501(c)(4) national advocacy campaign and advocacy network committed to stopping Alzheimer’s by 2020. An independent non-profit organization working in partnership with the Alzheimer’s community, USAgainstAlzheimer’s Action works to stop the disease by advancing policies that support research for a cure. For more information about USAgainstAlzheimer’s Action, please visit: http://usagainstalzheimersaction.org/.