*A copy of this letter was also sent to the House of Representatives

May 2, 2018

The Honorable Susan Collins
United States Senate
Washington, D. C. 20510		 The Honorable Catherine Cortez Masto
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510		 The Honorable Tim Kaine
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

 

Dear Senators Collins, Cortez Masto, Capito and Kaine:

On behalf of the millions of members and supporters of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, I am writing to endorse S. 2076, the “Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act,” which addresses the many challenges we face because over five million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

The BOLD Act would create a public health infrastructure to implement effective interventions to combat Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias including prevention, early detection and diagnosis and treatment.  We support key provisions of the BOLD Act including:

  • Centers of Excellence in Public Health Practice to promote effective supportive services, training, and caregiver education;
  • Core Capacity and Enhanced Activity Cooperative Agreements to provide resources to State Health Departments; and
  • Data Analysis and Reporting Cooperative Agreements with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ensure that data on Alzheimer’s and other dementias, cognitive decline, caregiving, and health disparities are analyzed and put to beneficial use as soon as possible.

Thank you for your leadership on this important issue.  We look forward to working with you to secure enactment of the “Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act,” to apply a public health approach to the many aspects of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias that affect patients, their caregivers and costs to our economy.

Sincerely,

Max Richtman
President and CEO