Attorney General Moody Urges Biden Administration to Provide Medicare Coverage for Alzheimer’s Treatments
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody is urging the Biden Administration to extend Medicare coverage for treatments for seniors. Attorney General Moody called on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide full and unrestricted coverage for U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease. Treatments currently not covered by CMS for Medicare patients include an FDA-approved medication that is proven to delay the progression of Alzheimer’s.
Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “I’m urging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide coverage for a medication that delays the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease. The agency’s decision to not cover this drug creates a barrier to care for our seniors, and we are fighting to ensure that older Floridians can receive the medical treatment they need.”
Attorney General Moody, with 25 other attorneys general, urged CMS to provide full and unrestricted Medicare coverage for FDA-approved Alzheimer’s treatments, consistent with its decades-long practice of covering FDA-approved prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries.
A treatment specified by the attorneys general is FDA-approved monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) directed against amyloid to help Alzheimer’s patients. Currently, CMS will only cover mAbs when it is administered through clinical trials or other studies.
The letter states: “This decision creates a barrier to care for older Americans, especially individuals living in rural and underserved areas that are unlikely to be served by institutions administering clinical trials.”
In addition to Attorney General Moody, the letter is signed by the attorneys general of the following states and territories: Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.
To read the full letter, click here.
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