This Republican and Democrat Are Trying to Expand Critical Women’s Health Program

Two senators from opposing parties are pushing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to renew and expand a health care screening program aimed at uninsured and underinsured women.

Sens. Angela Alsobrooks and Katie Britt introduced the new legislation on Thursday. It would expand access to a CDC program that provides heart health risk screenings and other medical support. The bill authorizes $250 million over the next five years to increase eligibility for the program and permit additional health care providers to participate.

“Heart health, or heart disease, is the number one killer of women in both Alabama and in Maryland,” Alsobrooks told NOTUS. “Having the opportunity to reauthorize a program that has been so helpful to so many women, to expand it, to increase the funding and to allow women to be screened for heart disease, is really important.”

The existing program operates in a select number of states, and only patients who are already participating in a specific cancer detection program are currently eligible, she said.

Alsobrooks added that she valued the opportunity to introduce the bill alongside Britt, emphasizing the need for bipartisan teamwork on issues that impact their constituents on both sides of the aisle.

“In this environment, it’s important to get things done, and to be able to do so in a way that really enhances the lives of people across parties,” Alsobrooks said. “We’re looking to find more and more of these spaces where we can invest in our families, and I’ve enjoyed doing it. Katie Britt and I are mothers, so we initially came together around being mothers.”

Alabama Sen. Katie Britt is teaming up with Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks on legislation expanding preventative health care for women at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tom Williams/AP

Britt also told NOTUS that she sees her partnership with Alsobrooks as a way to spotlight issues that affect women and children in particular.

“Looking at the challenges and impediments, particularly low-income women with lack of care, face,” Britt said. “I think those things are preventable, and the more that we can do on the front end to help women live productive, vibrant lives, I want to be a part of that solution. We are making sure that the voiceless have a seat at the table.”

The push to expand this program comes as both parties turn their attention toward health care costs ahead of the midterms. President Donald Trump announced a drug pricing policy last year that he’s said he’d like to see Congress codify, and Senate Democrats shut down the government for 43 days in the fall over health care costs.