1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Younger Onset Alzheimer’s Act”.
Younger Onset Alzheimer’s Act
A BILL
To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to support individuals with younger onset Alzheimer’s disease.
2. Findings
Congress finds the following:
Approximately 5,800,000 individuals in the United States are living with Alzheimer’s disease. This includes approximately 200,000 individuals with younger onset Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease costs the United States more than $290,000,000 per year, including $195,000,000 in costs to Medicare and Medicaid.
The Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.) includes services that focus on the needs of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. The need to specifically support individuals with younger onset Alzheimer’s disease is growing.
3. Younger onset Alzheimer’s disease
The Older Americans Act of 1965 is amended—
in section 102 (42 U.S.C. 3002), by adding at the end the following:
“(55) The term “younger onset Alzheimer’s disease”, with respect to an individual, means an individual with Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder who has not attained 60 years of age.”
in section 302(3) (42 U.S.C. 3022(3)), by inserting “, including an individual with younger onset Alzheimer’s disease” before the period;
in section 711(6) (42 U.S.C. 3058f(6)), by inserting “of any age” after “individual”; and
in section 721(b)(13) (42 U.S.C. 3058i(b)(13))—
in subparagraph (B), by striking “; or”;
in subparagraph (C), by striking the period and inserting “; or”; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(D) individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, including those with younger onset Alzheimer’s disease.”
4. Report
In general— Not later than 300 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Assistant Secretary for Aging shall submit a report, to the committees of Congress described in subsection (b), that includes—
an overview of programmatic functions and performance with respect to the amendments made by section 3, including information about individuals with younger onset Alzheimer’s disease; and
an identification of the gaps in needs of individuals with younger onset Alzheimer’s disease.
Committees— The committees of Congress described in this subsection are—
the Special Committee on Aging, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and the Committee on Finance, of the Senate; and
the Committee on Education and Labor, and the Committee on Energy and Commerce, of the House of Representatives.
5. Definition of younger onset Alzheimer’s disease
In this Act, the term “younger onset Alzheimer’s disease” has the meaning given the term in section 102(55) of the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3002(55)), as added by section 3.