News
What's happening in Alzheimer's care, research funding, and treatment — summarized simply, each item linked to the original reporting.
Free to read, “May need a subscription” and “Archived copy”: what they mean
Whether an article is free to read is a guess, not a test of your access. Each item is one of three:
- No label: free to read (303 of 347). The publisher’s page marks it free, or the outlet publishes free to read: Medical Xpress, ScienceDaily, NIH (incl. NIA and PMC), Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's News Today, NPR, Alzheimer's Disease International, or a .gov site.
- May need a subscription (11 of 347). The publisher’s own page marks the article as not free to read, or — when the page says nothing — the outlet sells subscriptions: The New York Times, STAT, Scientific American, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Economist, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Wired, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Times, The Telegraph, New Scientist, Endpoints News, Science. Each badge says which.
- “Free to read? Not known” (33 of 347). The outlet is on neither list and its page said nothing. We do not call these paywalled.
Archived copy links go to a copy the Internet Archive (web.archive.org) saved, dated the day it was saved. We show one only where the Internet Archive reported a working saved copy when we checked; an archived copy of a subscription article sometimes shows only its opening. 265 of 347 items have one.
A Simple Blood Test Could Detect Alzheimer's Earlier, But Medicare Doesn't Cover It
Medicare currently pays for Alzheimer's blood biomarker tests only after a patient already shows cognitive decline symptoms, not for pre-symptomatic screening, leaving out-of-pocket costs and geographic PET-scan deserts (e.g., Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas) as barriers, especially for lower-income patients.
Why it matters: Illustrates the real-world coverage gap the ASAP Act aims to close and quantifies dementia's cost burden on Medicare, already about 20% of Medicare spending and projected to reach one in three dollars by 2050.
Free to read? Not known for this outlet.
Read at Association of Health Care Journalists → Archived copy (3 Apr 2026), Internet ArchiveSenate Introduces Bipartisan ASAP Act (S. 3267), Companion to House Alzheimer's Screening Bill
S. 3267, the ASAP Act (Alzheimer's Screening and Prevention Act), was introduced in the Senate on Nov. 20, 2025 by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) with Sens. Cortez Masto, Capito and Warner as lead cosponsors, one day after the House companion H.R. 6130 (Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-FL). The bill would create a pathway for Medicare coverage of FDA-approved blood-based dementia screening tests. GovInfo bill status (updated 2026-09-26) shows 54 cosponsors (GovTrack: 30 Democrats, 24 Republicans); latest Senate action remains the Nov. 20, 2025 referral to the Committee on Finance. The related House bill was ordered reported by Ways and Means 40-0 on Sept. 16, 2026.
Why it matters: The bipartisan ASAP Act would create a pathway for Medicare coverage of FDA-approved blood-based dementia screening tests.
Read at GovInfo (Library of Congress bill status XML); Alzheimer's Association newsroom; Sen. Cortez Masto press release → Archived copy (5 Jul 2026), Internet ArchiveHouse Introduces Bipartisan Legislation to Accelerate Access to Alzheimer's Screening (ASAP Act)
Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Paul Tonko (D-NY) introduced the Alzheimer's Screening and Prevention (ASAP) Act, which would create a Medicare coverage pathway for FDA-approved blood-based dementia screening tests.
Why it matters: Targets a gap identified by clinicians and advocates: despite new FDA-cleared blood tests, Medicare currently won't pay for them as a pre-symptomatic screening tool.
Read at Alzheimer's Association → Archived copy (7 Aug 2026), Internet ArchiveFollow new items in a feed reader: Atom feed.