Letter to the Hon. Rosa DeLauro, Subcommittee Chairwoman and Tom Cole, Ranking Subcommittee Member - Rush and King Lead Appropriations Letter Requesting Continued Support for Programs That Address Heart Disease

Letter

Dear Chairwoman DeLauro and Ranking Member Cole:

As you prepare the FY2020 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill, we urge you to ensure sufficient funding for women's heart disease programs within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

There are persistent and significant gaps in information and barriers to implementing strategies to improve the outcomes for the 44 million women at risk for or living with heart disease. Out of the millions of women at risk, black women face a much higher risk of heart disease than white women. More than 60 percent of black women are not aware that heart disease is their number one health threat, killing 50,000 annually. Consequently, it is important that we acknowledge and address how cardiovascular disease disproportionately affects black women.

Women's heart disease programs within HHS are changing lives for women living with or at risk for heart disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (DHDSP) helps women understand and reduce their risk for developing heart disease and the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) program researches and raises awareness of heart disease in women. The progress made under these programs is remarkable, but more needs to be done.

Specifically, we request the following for the FY2020 appropriations bill:

We request at least $3.71 Billion for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

The NHLBI focuses on a wide range of efforts related to heart, blood, and lungs in order to improve the health of Americans. The Institute's mission is categorized into four goals, which are: to understand the human biology, develop workforce and resources, reduce human diseases, and advance research. This funding level will sustain current activities and investment in promising and critically needed scientific opportunities that will aggressively advance the fight against heart disease, including heart failure, high blood pressure, and vascular dementia identified in NHLBI's Strategic Vision.

Additionally, we request that you include the following report language on "The Heart Truth" program:

AnchorFor over a decade, "The Heart Truth" program has worked to raise awareness about women's risk of heart disease. The program's goals are to increase awareness that heart disease is the leading cause of death among women and to increase the conversations between women, and their healthcare providers. Accordingly, the Committee encourages the NHLBI to robustly fund "The Heart Truth" program.

We request $45.6 million for CDC's WISEWOMAN program within DHDSP.

DHDSP administers the WISEWOMAN (Well-Integrated Screening and Evaluation for WOMen Across the Nation) Program. This program is designed to help women reduce their risk of heart disease and stroke by providing services to promote a heart-healthy lifestyle. The program strives to work with low-income, uninsured, and underinsured women to provide heart disease and stroke risk factor screenings and services that promote healthy behaviors. The WISEWOMEN program currently consists of 21 programs in 19 states and 2 tribal organizations. This funding increase will help expand the number of states DHDSP is able to assist to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.

We request $5 million for Million Hearts 2022 within the CDC.

Million Hearts prevented an estimated 500,000 heart attacks and strokes in the first five years. This funding will advance the program's goal of preventing 1 million heart attacks and will be used to continue implementation of the ABCS (aspirin as appropriate, blood pressure control, cholesterol management, and smoking cessation) to develop innovative ways for communities and the health care sector to execute evidence-based prevention in the highest burden areas, and to expand focus on physical activity and cardiac rehabilitation for people age 35 to 64 whose event rates are on the rise.

Thank you for your consideration of these requests.