Testimony of David Hyde Pierce, national board member, Alzheimer’s Association

Presented to the Bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease

May 3, 2005

I am delighted and honored to be here today to be part of this briefing for the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s disease. I’d especially like to thank Representatives Edward Markey and Christopher Smith, who have been true the leaders in Congress for people with Alzheimer’s disease.

It was not so long ago – June of 1999, that I joined you, Congressman Markey and Congressman Smith, in launching the Task Force. In just a short time, the task force has grown to a membership of nearly 200, and has numerous victories under its belt.

Congressman Markey knows firsthand what it is like to watch a loved one suffer from Alzheimer’s. I too, like millions of Americans, have had family members – my father and grandfather -- devastated by Alzheimer’s disease. That’s why I joined the Alzheimer’s Association, and why I’m here today.

With each year that passes, my fear grows – my fear that the disease process that destroyed their memories, and ultimately their lives, has begun developing in my own brain. My fear grows not just for myself, but also for my generation – the 16 million baby boomers who will get Alzheimer’s disease if we don’t find a way to beat this dreadful disease.

At the same time, my hope grows. Today I am here with more enthusiasm, more confidence that scientists are on the verge of a breakthrough. My hope is joined with a sense of urgency.

An increase in research funding is our best hope to prevent the devastation of Alzheimer’s for millions of families, and to save our healthcare system. Research has progressed so fast and so far in the last fifteen years, thanks largely to federal funding, that today we can look forward to breakthroughs in prevention in the next decade – if the federal funding is there. Just in the last year we learned that there are lifestyle factors we can manage ourselves that can keep our brains healthy as we age, and reduce our risk of dementia. But that’s only the beginning. We need to keep the momentum going.

I know that Congress, the President, and the Governors are looking at the huge economic challenges this country is going to face over the next 25 – 40 years – as we baby boomers age. I know that you are facing fundamental questions about the future of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And that many are concerned about how these programs will consume an ever increasing share of federal and state budgets and taxpayer dollars. I hear people say that every year you put off addressing these issues, the decisions will become more difficult – politically – and will require more sacrifices.

I have a simple message for you today. One of the most important things we can do to protect the retirement security of the baby boom generation – and rein in the costs of Medicare and Medicaid – is to find an answer to Alzheimer’s disease. Let me explain:

• Medicare spends 3 times more on a beneficiary with dementia than on a beneficiary who is not cognitively impaired.

• Medicaid spends $21 billion each year just on nursing home care for persons with dementia who have run out of money paying for their care. Left unchecked, Alzheimer’s disease will bankrupt Medicare and Medicaid.

But if we can find a way to delay onset and progression of the disease, even by a modest amount – we can achieve huge savings.

• If we can find those answers within 5 years, we can save Medicare $51 billion a year by 2015.

• And we can save the states and federal government $10 billion in annual Medicaid spending on nursing home care.

• That’s a return of as $13 for each federal dollar spent on research. Where else can you get a better deal?

Alzheimer’s disease threatens more than Medicare and Medicaid. It threatens the retirement security of as many as half of us baby boomers, who, if we live into our 80s, will get the disease.

A year in a nursing home costs on average $52,000 – much more in some places. Cost of care at home can be just as expensive – unless families provide most of the care themselves – which most of them do. Alzheimer’s disease on average lasts 8 – 20 years.

Compare that with retirement savings of average households aged 55 to 59. 36% had no retirement savings at all – of those who did – the median balance was $50,000 in 2001.

A disease like Alzheimer’s will quickly wipe out the retirement savings of all but the wealthiest – along with anything that might have been passed along to their children or grandchildren.

It’s an exaggeration to say that Alzheimer’s disease is the biggest estate tax middle class Americans are likely to face – if we don’t find a way to turn it around.

Can we do it? I listen to the scientists and I’m optimistic. We have to try, and we can’t afford not to.

• We did it for polio.

• We did it for measles.

• Even with a disease that is still as devastating as HIV/AIDS – we’ve changed what was an automatic death sentence into a chronic condition that people can live with.

I think we can do it for Alzheimer’s disease.