Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) headlined an Alzheimer’s Disease informational briefing Thursday organized by the Healthcare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ) and the California Healthcare Institute.

    This devastating disease afflicts over 5 million people in the U.S. alone, a number that is expected to triple in coming decades, at a projected financial cost of over $1 trillion a year by 2050.

    “Alzheimer’s is without a doubt the future health care crisis for our nation,” said Smith, who co-chairs the bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease and is the chairman of the House subcommittee which oversees global health issues. “We know that the trajectory of Alzheimer’s disease over the next few decades threatens unparalleled tragedy and threatens to overwhelm society’s ability to cope if something is not done to change that trajectory. And the cost to our nation’s health care system is staggering -- estimated to be $183 billion annually, including $130 billion falling on Medicare and Medicaid alone.

    “We are in desperate need of better tools to manage Alzheimer’s,” said Smith, who was joined by Linda Sanchez (D-CA) at the bipartisan briefing. “In these very austere fiscal times, it is even more important to have briefings like this to raise awareness in Congress of the seriousness of the problem, but also to show the progress being made by dedicated researchers, prominently including leading researchers in New Jersey companies and universities.”

    Smith held a congressional hearing in June entitled “Global Strategies to Combat the Devastating Health and Economic Impacts of Alzheimer’s Disease.” Dr. Richard Hodes, Director of the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health, described several areas of research that hopefully will lead to the development of preventive and treatment interventions  Click here to read Hodes’ testimony. Other witnesses included leaders from national and international Alzheimer’s disease organizations and researchers, including the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, the Alzheimer’s Association and Alzheimer’s Disease International.

    Smith (R-N.J.) and Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), co-chairs in the House of Representatives of the Bipartisan, Bicameral Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease, coordinated a June 15 letter signed by 28 Members of Congress calling on the United Nation to include Alzheimer’s disease in the program of a September international health conference dubbed a “Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases.” Click here to view the June 15 letter to the U.N. 

    The National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA), co-authored in the House by Markey and Smith was signed into law in January. Smith and Markey, introduced HR 4689 to create the National Alzheimer’s Project that will now coordinate government-wide efforts to prevent and treat the disease and create a national strategy for defeating Alzheimer’s.

    NAPA directs that the National Alzheimer’s Project will be located in the Office of the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services, and establishes an Advisory Committee of private and federal experts to work with the Secretary to comprehensively assess and address Alzheimer’s research, institutional services and home and community-based care.