Capito urges HHS to tackle dementia in America

Reducing the prevalence of dementia — which is on track to triple by 2060 and remains one of the nation’s most urgent health inequities — must become a priority for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and a bipartisan group of 14 senators last week.

“As members of Congress who deeply care about the health of our constituents and the economic health of our country, we write today to urge you to establish an ambitious national goal to prevent Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and to develop a plan to achieve this goal,” the lawmakers wrote in a Sept. 30 letter sent to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Among the lawmakers joining Sen. Capito in signing the letter were U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who noted that Alzheimer’s disease is an expanding public health crisis that nearly 14 million Americans are expected to have by 2050, with people of color and women expected to bear the largest burden. 

It’s also costly, they wrote, with Alzheimer’s and other dementias costing the nation $355 billion this year, including $239 billion in combined Medicare and Medicaid payments. “Unless we prevent, slow or adequately treat this disease, in 2050, Alzheimer’s is projected to cost more than $1.1 trillion (in 2021 dollars) — a three-fold increase both in government spending under Medicare and Medicaid and in out-of-pocket spending,” according to their letter.

Studies indicate that roughly 40 percent of dementia cases could be preventable by addressing risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, depression, physical inactivity, poor nutrition, smoking, and traumatic brain injury, among others, the lawmakers wrote, but the nation’s current healthcare system “falls woefully short” in such prevention and primary care practitioners do not routinely promote dementia risk reduction. 

They suggested that HHS agencies encourage providers and payers to proactively address brain health among non-symptomatic, healthy adults and to strengthen early detection and risk-reducing interventions that delay disease progression via payment reforms, quality incentives, and beneficiary and provider education. 

“Importantly, overcoming barriers to access and improving the quality of cognitive assessments would be an important first step that already can be taken within the existing authorities,” Sen. Capito and her colleagues wrote. “We are confident that a clear goal and strategic investments in health equity will benefit families, society, our economy, and the nation.”