Lawmakers behind bipartisan push for legislation detecting and preventing Alzheimer’s: ‘It’s too expensive not to’

House Reps. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), co-sponsors of the Alzheimer’s Screening and Prevention (ASAP) Act, said Thursday that proactively addressing Alzheimer’s disease is “too expensive” of an issue for Congress to ignore.

Appearing at The Hill’s “Getting a Diagnosis ASAP: Progress in Early Alzheimer’s Detection” event on Thursday, the two congressmen discussed why their bill, the ASAP Act, is crucial.

“I think our whole health care system is backwards. We react to things instead of being proactive,” Buchanan told The Hill’s contributing editor, Kathleen Koch.

The disease is personal for Buchanan, whose father had the illness and lived with it for the last decade of his life. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 7 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease.

“The point is to get after these things in the early stages the best we can. And that’s why we’re fighting for this. There’s a lot of momentum in the Democratic and Republican side of things. And I think we’ve got 50 co-sponsors, and it’s probably 50/50,” said Buchanan. “We will find a way to get the money, the funds, one way or the other, because it’s too expensive not to.”

The ASAP Act would allow the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to cover blood-based screening tests approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Alzheimer’s and allow the agency to determine the parameters for covering these new tests.

Last year, the FDA approved the first blood tests used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease called the Lumipulse G pTau217/ß-Amyloid 1-42 Plasma Ratio and the Elecsys pTau181 test, which provides early detection of amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease in adults 55 years and older.

The Social Security Act stipulates that certain services will not be covered if they are deemed to not be “reasonable and necessary.” Given the novelty of these tests, these newer blood tests may not meet the mark.

“You have to add this to the list,” Tonko said at Thursday’s event. “Because it’s less invasive, and because there is hope here to have earlier detection to roll with the ASAP.”

According to the Alzheimer’s Association 2025 Disease Facts and Figures annual report, early detection often means better chances of effectively slowing progression of the disease.

“People diagnosed in the earlier stages — mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease — are the only ones for whom the new antiamyloid medications donanemab (Kisunla) and lecanemab (Leqembi) are approved,” the report stated.

Along with ensuring patients have more options, early detection can also help reduce anxieties; promote healthier behaviors; and aid in making improved personal and financial plans in response to a diagnosis.

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