Written by Terri Burke, KY District 4 Advocate
One in 3 older adults dies of Alzheimer’s or another dementia. This disease kills more people than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. Dementia is a disease that still carries a stigma, and many people avoid talking with their doctor about symptoms. I was with my parents when my dad received his diagnosis. The doctor said ‘this disease kills caregivers often before the patient’. An estimated 7.4 million Americans age 65 and older, including an estimated 81,000 in Kentucky, are living with Alzheimer’s in 2026, a number that could grow to 13.8 million nationally by 2060 without medical breakthroughs.
My dad was diagnosed in 2017, when there were basically no real reliable detection tests or treatments. Luckily, we are in a different time and now we have access to both. The Alzheimer’s Screening and Prevention (ASAP) Act just passed the House Ways and Means Committee with bipartisan support. This is a “mammogram moment” for Alzheimer’s: just as Congress helped Medicare cover routine mammograms and drove down breast cancer deaths, Congress can deliver the same breakthrough for Alzheimer’s.
Now the bill needs a vote on the House floor, and Representative Thomas Massie can help make that happen by cosponsoring and urging leadership to schedule a vote. Please join me and the Alzheimer’s Association in urging Representative Massie to stand up for the millions of families facing this disease by helping move the ASAP Act to a vote.
