releases: http://cole.house.gov/jackie-kouri-alzheimers-disease-everyones-challenge
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| http://cole.house.gov/jackie-kouri-alzheimers-disease-everyones-challenge | Tulsa World: Alzheimer's disease is everyone's challenge | 2015-11-30 | 2015 | 2015-11 | Republican | House | OK | Tom Cole | C001053 | cole.house.gov | legacy | Tulsa World - Jackie Kouri Everyone with a brain is at risk of developing Alzheimers disease. Its that simple, and that dire. Some 5.3 million Americans are living with Alzheimers with a crushing 500,000 new cases added every year. Taking even more than precious memories and identities, Alzheimers is taking lives, killing more people than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined, a guaranteed death sentence every single time. Alzheimers is the sixth leading cause of death and is unmatched in the scale of its devastating human and economic impact, yet is the only disease in the top 10 causes of death with no way to prevent, cure or even slow it. While death rates of all other major diseases have significantly decreased over recent years, deaths from Alzheimers have skyrocketed by 71 percent. Women are disproportionately affected by Alzheimers in alarming ways. Women in their 60s are twice as likely to develop Alzheimers in their lifetime as they are to develop breast cancer. Nearly two-thirds of those with Alzheimers 3.2 million Americans are women. And almost two-thirds of all Alzheimers and other dementia caregivers nearly 10 million Americans are women. The economic toll of Alzheimers is staggering. Already the most expensive disease in America, Alzheimers costs are set to soar exponentially like no other disease. In 2015 it costs our nation $226 billion to care for people with Alzheimers, a cost of nearly $17.5 million per hour to American taxpayers. An onerous two-thirds of that cost is borne by Medicare and Medicaid, with nearly one in every five Medicare dollars spent on Alzheimers. By 2050 with the aging of 76 million baby boomers, it will grow to one in every three Medicare dollars with the nations total cost skyrocketing to $1.1 trillion. Americas bankruptcy is in the making from this single disease. November is Alzheimers Disease Awareness Month, and the Alzheimers Association is committed 24/7 to being the brains behind saving yours. A treatment delaying Alzheimers onset by just five years means that in 2050 5.7 million Americans expected to develop Alzheimers would not and America would save $367 billion with Medicare saving its share of those billions. The worlds scientists say this can happen with a $2 billion federal research investment compared to the current $586 million. A $2 billion investment that is calculated to be recouped in the first three years after a treatment is available not a bad return on investment. This year could be momentous because Alzheimers Association voices are being heard on Capitol Hill through leadership right here in Oklahoma. Republican Rep. Tom Cole, Fourth District, is chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds the National Institutes of Health, which in turn funds federal Alzheimers research. Through Coles leadership, the Appropriations Committee passed $300 million in new Alzheimers research funding without exceeding budget limits overall. The Senate followed suit with a $350 million proposal. If Congress follows Coles recommendation and passes the funding, it will include the largest of three consecutive annual increases for Alzheimers research. If signed into law, this will dramatically change the Alzheimers research landscape by fueling a new round of innovative studies. Oklahoma Reps. Jim Bridenstine, Frank Lucas and Cole, plus Sens. Jim Inhofe and James Lankford, are committed cosponsors of important federal Alzheimers legislation for which we are profoundly grateful. Alzheimers numbers are overwhelming and imbalanced. You can help change those numbers: 1. Reach out to your federal legislators asking them to support at least $300 million in increased funding for Alzheimers research. 2. Go to alz.org and click Join the Cause to lend your voice in a number of ways. Meanwhile, make use of the Alzheimers Associations array of no-charge programs for yourself or loved ones at alz.org. Together we can elevate Alzheimers to the national priority it demands. This column is the first part of the Tulsa Worlds Aging Oklahoma series, a look at the social and personal challenges of the aging baby boom generation. Jackie Kouri lives in Tulsa. She is a member of the national board of directors for the Alzheimers Association, the largest private funder of Alzheimers research. Online: Tulsa World | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |