RFK Jr.’s Call For Early Alzheimer’s Screening Could Stop A Fiscal Crisis

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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently announced that “it is regulatory malpractice that we don’t have early [Alzheimer’s] screening already,” saying “we now know that early treatment of Alzheimer’s can postpone its onset.”

Kennedy echoes a sentiment that millions of Americans already feel: the healthcare system should be more concerned with prevention and early intervention than late-stage crisis care. His statement should serve as a wake-up call for doctors, policymakers and anyone concerned for the country’s long-term fiscal health.

More than 7 million Americans currently have Alzheimer’s disease, a number expected to nearly double by 2060 — a medical crisis spiraling into a fiscal disaster. Neither Medicare nor Medicaid are equipped to absorb a massive jump in costs. The Medicare hospital insurance fund is set to run out of reserves in 2033. (RELATED: STEPHEN MOORE: Let’s Kill Cancer)

Exacerbating the crisis is that, for decades, Alzheimer’s policy has been built around costly late-stage crisis care instead of early diagnosis and action,........

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