AG Formella and 25 other Attorneys General Urge Biden Administration to Provide Medicare Coverage for Alzheimer’s Treatment

Concord, NH – New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella is calling on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide coverage for a drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that has been proven to delay the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease.

In a new letter, AG Formella and 25 other Attorneys General asked 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.

“I am proud to be part of this bipartisan group of Attorneys General calling on Medicare to provide unrestricted coverage of antibody treatments for Alzheimer's disease,” said Attorney General Formella. “We must ensure that the 6 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s can receive the treatments being recommended by their doctors. Right now, many older Americans living in rural areas are at a disadvantage and take on the enormous financial burden of traveling to the few research institutions that host trials. All Americans should have the same opportunity for access to treatment, no matter where they live."

The treatment specified by attorneys general in the letter 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.

“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,” states the letter.