HM 1045

1	House Memorial
2	A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging
3	Congress to increase federal funding for Alzheimer's
4	disease research.
5
6	WHEREAS, Alzheimer's disease is a progressive degenerative
7	disorder that destroys cells in the brain and is the leading
8	cause of dementia, a condition that involves memory loss,
9	decline in the ability to perform routine tasks, disorientation,
10	difficulty in learning, loss of language skills, impairment of
11	judgment, and personality changes, and
12	WHEREAS, as Alzheimer's disease progresses, individuals
13	with the disease become unable to care for themselves, and
14	WHEREAS, as many as 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's
15	disease, including approximately 500,000 Floridians, and, by
16	2050, the number of individuals in the United States with the
17	disease could range from 13 million to 16 million unless a way
18	to prevent or cure the disease is discovered, and
19	WHEREAS, Alzheimer's disease strikes approximately 1 in 10
20	people over the age of 65 and nearly half of those who are age
21	85 or older, and
22	WHEREAS, the average lifetime cost of care for an
23	individual with Alzheimer's disease is $170,000, and
24	WHEREAS, half of all nursing home residents have
25	Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder, with the average
26	annual cost of nursing home care for individuals with the
27	disease exceeding $70,000 per resident, and
28	WHEREAS, Medicaid pays half of the total nursing home bills
29	for individuals with Alzheimer's disease and helps 2 out of 3
30	residents pay for their care, and
31	WHEREAS, Medicaid expenditures for nursing home care for
32	individuals with Alzheimer's disease are estimated to increase
33	from $21 billion in 2005 to $24 billion in 2010, and
34	WHEREAS, 1 in 8 caregivers for individuals with Alzheimer's
35	disease becomes ill or injured as a direct result of caregiving,
36	and 1 in 3 uses medication for problems related to caregiving,
37	with older caregivers being 3 times more likely to become
38	clinically depressed than others in their age group, and
39	WHEREAS, a 4-year study conducted by researchers from the
40	University of Pittsburgh showed that elderly spouses strained by
41	caregiving were 63 percent more likely to die during that 4-year
42	period than their noncaregiving counterparts, and
43	WHEREAS, if our nation achieves its research goals of
44	preventing the onset of Alzheimer's disease in those at risk and
45	treating and delaying progression of the disease in those
46	already ill, annual Medicare savings would be $51 billion by
47	2015 and $88 billion by 2020, annual Medicaid savings would be
48	$10 billion in 2015 and $17 billion by 2020, and the projected
49	number of cases of the disease would be reduced by 40 percent by
50	the middle of the century, and
51	WHEREAS, a cure for Alzheimer's disease may be achieved
52	sooner by increasing funding of Alzheimer's disease research at
53	established and reputable research institutes, and
54	WHEREAS, the Congress of the United States appropriated
55	$642 million for Alzheimer's disease research during fiscal year
56	2007-2008, NOW, THEREFORE,
57
58	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
59
60	That the Congress of the United States is urged to increase
61	federal funding for Alzheimer's disease research by $360 million
62	during fiscal year 2008-2009.
63	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
64	dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
65	President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
66	United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
67	the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.