Findings

Congress finds as follows: (1) Epilepsy is a brain disorder that causes recurring and unprovoked seizures and affects people of all ages, affecting nearly 3,000,000 adults and 456,000 children in the United States. (2) Epilepsy and seizures can develop in any person at any age. One in 26 people will develop a form of epilepsy in their lifetime, with people from all demographic groups and walks of life being impacted. (3) In approximately half of all cases of epilepsy, the underlying cause of the disease is unknown. (4) Epilepsy is a spectrum disease comprised of many diagnoses and an ever-growing number of rare epilepsies. There are many different types of seizures and varying levels of seizure control. (5) Over 30 percent of people with epilepsy live with uncontrolled seizures. (6) Individuals with epilepsy have a 3-times higher risk of early death than the general population and that risk is even higher for individuals with uncontrolled seizures. (7) Thirty-two percent of adults with epilepsy are unable to work. (8) Fifty-three percent of individuals with uncontrolled seizures live in households earning less than $25,000 per year. (9) Health care costs associated with epilepsy and seizures exceed $54,000,000,000 per year in the United States.