By Phil Coticelli
Executive Director of the Alzheimer’s Policy Working Group
Publisher of Solving Alzheimer’s, Substack
The Alzheimer’s Screening and Prevention Act, better known as the ASAP Act, would let Medicare cover tests that find Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms appear. Medicare cannot cover those tests today without a change to federal law.
On September 15, a bill introduced last November finally got a hearing.
For Ahead of Alzheimer’s, that hearing reflects something rare: scientists and policymakers aligning on what comes next. Here is what the ASAP Act does, where it stands, and why the next few months decide its future.
What the ASAP Act Would Change About Medicare Coverage
The ASAP Act amends title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a new Medicare benefit: early detection screening tests for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
The essentials:
- Bill numbers: H.R. 6130 in the House, S. 3267 in the Senate, 119th Congress
- House sponsors: Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Paul Tonko (D-NY), introduced November 19, 2025
- Senate sponsors: Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), introduced November 20, 2025
- What it covers: FDA-cleared or FDA-approved genomic sequencing blood tests, plus equivalent tests the Secretary of Health and Human Services determines deliver comparable results
- Effective date: Tests furnished on or after January 1, 2028
- Where it sits: House Energy and Commerce and House Ways and Means; Senate Finance
One detail deserving close attention: the bill reaches beyond blood tests. Its text names single-analyte tests, multiplex panels, whole genome and whole exome sequencing, protein expression, and medical imaging tied to blood, tissue, or urine samples. Congress defined it this way so the benefit can keep pace with the science instead of freezing 2025 technology into permanent federal law.
Why Doesn’t Medicare Cover Alzheimer’s Screening Today?
The Social Security Act permits Medicare to cover only the screening benefits Congress has specifically authorized, so Medicare cannot decide on its own to cover a screening test.
Congress must authorize each screening benefit by statute, one at a time. Mammograms required an act of Congress. Colorectal cancer screening did too. Dementia hasn’t gotten one yet.
That made sense in 1990, when no test existed to detect Alzheimer’s before symptoms appeared. But science has moved on. In May 2025, the FDA cleared the first Alzheimer’s blood test, the Lumipulse pTau217/Beta-Amyloid Ratio test, and it’s already in clinical use nationwide.
And this July, at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) in London, our team heard researchers discuss a blood test that can predict cognitive decline up to a decade before a person has symptoms. That’s important information people could use to prevent decline, but Medicare can’t cover it.
How Blood Tests Can Detect Alzheimer’s Before Symptoms
Two findings presented at the 2026 AAIC conference explain why the ASAP Act arrived when it did.
Researchers reported that a blood test measuring a protein called P-tau217 can help predict cognitive decline about ten years before symptoms appear. That window is long enough to change medication, address vascular risk, join a clinical trial, and make important decisions while you still can.
A Swedish team found something equally important about who can order these tests. In their study, primary care physicians using blood test results diagnosed Alzheimer’s nearly as accurately as dementia specialists.
Most Americans see a family doctor years before they ever see a neurologist, if they see one at all. A test primary care physicians can use will reach far more patients than one that requires a specialist referral.
Why 200+ Cosponsors Signal Real Momentum for the ASAP Act
As of September 16th, 2026, the ASAP Act carries 216 cosponsors in the House and 49 in the Senate, drawn from both parties and from nearly every state. That means almost half the House supports Medicare coverage for dementia testing.
Legislative forecasters still give it long odds this session. Those models weight floor action heavily and cosponsorship lightly, which is reasonable for most bills and misleading for this one.
Cosponsor counts at that level indicate the argument has already been won inside the building. What remains is a scheduling problem — finding space on the calendar. This is exactly where pressure from constituents can help move things along.
How Has the ASAP Act Progressed After Its First Hearing?
On September 15, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held its first hearing that included H.R. 6130, the ASAP Act. The bill was considered alongside other Medicare proposals, giving lawmakers their first formal opportunity to examine it.
Later that day, the House Ways and Means Committee released an amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 6130. The revised language would provide Medicare coverage for qualifying blood-based Alzheimer’s and dementia early-detection tests, subject to a CMS national coverage determination and specified eligibility limits. It would also require cognitive impairment detection during Medicare Annual Wellness Visits and initial preventive physical exams beginning in 2028.
On September 16, the House Ways and Means Committee took up H.R. 6130 and the substitute amendment in a full committee markup. As of this update, the official committee record confirms the markup and amendment but has not yet posted a final vote or disposition for H.R. 6130.
Where Ahead of Alzheimer’s Stands on the ASAP Act
At Ahead of Alzheimer’s, we believe brain health should be a national priority, where early detection becomes standard care. Policy, public health guidance, and reimbursement must catch up to science.
The ASAP Act is the clearest legislative vehicle for this idea, and we support it.
We also want to be honest about what a coverage law does and does not solve.
Paying for a test is one piece. Someone still has to order it, interpret it, and know what to do next. The Alzheimer’s Association found that two in three Americans want brain health guidance from a health care provider, while only 14% have ever discussed it with their doctor. Coverage will not close that gap by itself.
Neither will it fix wait times. Dr. John and Grace Showalter, who run a dementia-focused primary care clinic in Pennsylvania, said on our show that their fastest referral to a neurologist for disease-modifying therapy took 72 hours — against a typical wait of nine to twelve months.
Coverage plus capacity is the combination that will change outcomes. The ASAP Act delivers the first half, and it is the half only Congress can deliver.
How Can You Support the ASAP Act?
World Alzheimer’s Day falls on September 21, and this year’s global theme could serve as the ASAP Act’s rallying line: the earlier you know, the more you can do.
More than 7.4 million Americans aged 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s in 2026, and dementia care costs are projected to reach $409 billion this year alone. Every year Congress waits, another cohort of families learns too late what a blood test could have told them a decade earlier.
Here are two steps you can take:
- Check whether your representative and senators have cosponsored. The Alzheimer’s Impact Movement maintains a cosponsor count by state.
- Contact them if they have not. Ask them to cosponsor H.R. 6130 or S. 3267 by name.
Learn more about taking part in World Alzheimer’s Day on our site. You will find the warning signs, our episodes, and ways to stay connected past September 21.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the ASAP Act do?
The ASAP Act would amend the Social Security Act so Medicare covers FDA-cleared tests that detect Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias before symptoms appear. Medicare currently lacks the statutory authority to cover these tests.
Has the ASAP Act passed Congress?
No. The ASAP Act remains in committee in both chambers as of September 2026. It has not received a markup, a floor vote, or a Senate hearing.
Did the ASAP Act have a hearing?
Yes. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health considered H.R. 6130 at a legislative hearing on September 15, 2026, the bill’s first hearing since its introduction in November 2025.
When would Medicare coverage for Alzheimer’s screening begin?
The bill applies to qualifying tests furnished on or after January 1, 2028, assuming Congress passes it and the President signs it.
Who introduced the ASAP Act?
Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Paul Tonko (D-NY) introduced H.R. 6130 on November 19, 2025. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced S. 3267 the following day.