Alzheimer’s care

There are more than five million Americans living with Alzheimer's disease and 16 million unpaid Alzheimer's caregivers. Among them are the 560,000 living in Florida and their 1.1 million caregivers. I am one of them. My mom was diagnosed in 2017.

I recently attended the Alzheimer's Association Forum in Washington, D.C., where I met with Rep. Val Demings to explain why Congress must continue to prioritize legislative action against Alzheimer's.

I urged Rep. Demings to support funding for increased Alzheimer's research and to cosponsor the Improving HOPE for Alzheimer's Act (HR 1873) and the Younger Onset Alzheimer's Disease Act (HR 1903). HR 1873 will educate clinicians on care planning services available under Medicare and on the care planning billing code that was originally established under the original Hope for Alzheimer's Act. HR 1903 would make individuals with younger-onset Alzheimer's who are under 60 years old eligible to access supports and services under the Older Americans Act.

It's only through adequately funding research and policies like the Improving HOPE for Alzheimer's Act and the Younger Onset Alzheimer's Disease Act that we can meet the goal of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease to prevent and effectively treat Alzheimer's by 2025.

If you don't think Alzheimer's affects you, think again. Alzheimer's costs taxpayers more than $22 million every hour. Please join me in thanking Rep. Val Demings for co-sponsoring both of these crucial pieces of bipartisan legislation that address Alzheimer's as the public health crisis that it is. Usha Tewari Orlando