Why Women's Heart Disease Goes Undiagnosed—And What Congress Is Doing About It

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, claiming one in three women each year. Yet women remain consistently underdiagnosed and undertreated, with their symptoms often minimized or dismissed by healthcare providers. For Black women, the burden is even more severe: 59% of Black women ages 20 and older are living with some form of cardiovascular disease. Now, a bipartisan effort in Congress aims to change that by expanding access to preventive heart screenings for millions of women who currently lack coverage.

Why Are Women's Heart Problems Going Undetected?

The gap between men and women in cardiovascular care isn't accidental—it reflects systemic barriers to prevention and early detection. Many women lack access to basic health screenings that could catch dangerous risk factors before they become life-threatening emergencies. When women do seek care, their concerns are often dismissed, delaying diagnosis and treatment. This disparity has real consequences: women frequently don't discover they have heart disease until they experience a heart attack or stroke.

The risk factors themselves are measurable and manageable when caught early. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity all significantly increase cardiovascular danger, yet many women never receive screening for these conditions. Without preventive care, these silent risk factors progress undetected until a crisis occurs.

What Is WISEWOMAN, and Why Does It Need Expansion?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Well-Integrated Screening and Evaluation for Women Across the Nation (WISEWOMAN) program has been providing free cardiovascular screenings and lifestyle support to uninsured and underinsured women since 1993. The program is designed to detect dangerous risk factors before they turn into life-threatening heart attacks or strokes. However, its reach remains limited because eligibility is tied to participation in the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which restricts both who can access it and the federal funding it receives.

This narrow eligibility window means millions of women who desperately need cardiovascular screening fall through the cracks. Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a stroke survivor herself, has reintroduced the bipartisan Women's Heart Health Expansion Act to address this gap. "I suffered a devastating stroke in 2000," Beatty explained in her advocacy for the bill. "One moment I was standing. The next, my throat tightened, my body collapsed, and my future felt uncertain." Her personal experience with stroke recovery—and the quality care that made her recovery possible—drives her commitment to ensuring other women have access to prevention before crisis strikes.

What Would the Women's Heart Health Expansion Act Do?

The proposed legislation takes three key steps to strengthen cardiovascular prevention for women. First, it broadens eligibility for WISEWOMAN beyond its current limits, allowing more women to access free screenings regardless of their participation in other cancer detection programs. Second, it allows more community-based providers to participate in delivering these screenings, bringing services closer to underserved populations. Third, it authorizes $250 million over five years to increase screenings, education, and early intervention efforts.

The timing of this expansion is critical. Recent changes to Medicaid eligibility under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act have introduced new work requirements that threaten coverage for millions of Americans. Women make up 53% of nonelderly adult Medicaid enrollees, meaning they will be disproportionately affected by these coverage losses. According to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, more than 20% of people at risk of losing Medicaid coverage already have serious health conditions such as high cholesterol, obesity, and high blood pressure—all of which significantly increase cardiovascular danger. Losing health coverage makes it harder to manage these conditions, putting long-term health at even greater risk.

How to Protect Your Cardiovascular Health Through Prevention

• Get Regular Screenings: Know your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and other cardiovascular risk factors through routine medical visits or community screening programs like WISEWOMAN.
• Monitor Key Numbers: Check blood pressure regularly at home or during clinic visits, track cholesterol during routine medical care, and report sudden changes such as dizziness, swelling, or fatigue to your doctor.
• Make Lifestyle Changes: Quit smoking to improve oxygen delivery and blood vessel function, limit alcohol intake to protect heart rhythm and blood pressure, manage stress through rest and social support, and maintain regular sleep patterns to support heart rhythm and recovery.

Why Early Detection Matters More Than Treatment After Crisis

The fundamental principle behind expanding WISEWOMAN is straightforward: prevention is far more effective and less costly than treating a heart attack or stroke after it happens. Early detection lowers healthcare costs, saves lives, and protects families by safeguarding the women who often hold them together. When women lose access to preventive screenings, heart attacks and strokes too often become the first warning sign—at which point the damage is already done.

Congresswoman Beatty's personal recovery from stroke illustrates both the power of quality care and its fragility. She received strong medical care and physical therapy in Columbus that allowed her to defy early predictions and return to work. But not every woman has access to such resources. "No Ohio woman should lose her life or health because prevention was out of reach," Beatty stated, emphasizing that access to quality care can change outcomes.

The Women's Heart Health Expansion Act represents a bipartisan recognition that cardiovascular health is common ground. By broadening access to free screenings and early intervention, the legislation aims to ensure that women don't have to survive a stroke or heart attack to understand how fragile their access to care can be. For millions of uninsured and underinsured women, this expansion could mean the difference between managing risk factors quietly and facing a life-altering cardiovascular crisis.