“I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.”

Those words were written by Ronald Reagan in a November 5, 1994 letter announcing his Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Equally as significant was the desire to spare his beloved wife Nancy from the difficulty she would experience as the spouse of an Alzheimer’s victim.

Thirty-two years later, the need to fight this debilitating disease remains just as strong. In recent polling by Fabrizio Ward, 92% of female voters said Alzheimer’s is a serious problem and 82% are more likely to support a candidate that makes combating this disease a priority. The most astounding part is that 61% of female voters can point to Alzheimer’s affecting family or friends.

While researchers, drugmakers, and doctors are doing their part to better understand this disease, improve the ability to live with it, and ultimately eliminate it, neither the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) nor insurance companies should stand in the way of the availability of new therapies.

As a staunch believer in the free marketplace, my first thought is not to ask for candidates to support mandates to force insurance companies to cover new therapies. However, I do believe that insurers and government can work together to develop strategies – such as tax benefits to allow patients to control their care, faster coverage decisions, fewer bureaucratic roadblocks, and of course, Right-to-Try – that can provide greater options for both patients and caregivers. After all, the data shows that if insurers are not receptive to voluntary measures, many voters will become receptive to candidates who offer prescriptive mandates in their campaign platforms.

The same goes for CMS, which can no longer arbitrarily refuse coverage of new Alzheimer’s treatments. The same openness, transparency, and enthusiasm sought from private insurers must also characterize CMS because voters will no longer accept an agency that actively blocks the ability of our loved ones to live out their latter years with dignity.

In short, both insurers and CMS must get out of the way and make more Alzheimer’s therapies available or voters will make them pay.

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