On July 15, 2014, Women's Policy, Inc. (WPI) sponsored a briefing on rising mortality rates among women in the United States, in cooperation with Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) and Donna F. Edwards (D-MD), Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues (the Women's Caucus); Reps. Kristi Noem (R-SD) and Doris O. Matsui (D-CA), Vice-Chairs of the Women's Caucus; and Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler and Lois Capps (D-CA), Co-Chairs, Women’s Health Task Force, the Women's Caucus.

Members of the Women's Caucus
Rep. Doris O. Matsui (D-CA) spoke about a topic of special importance to her — dementia. She described a recent meeting with the Minister of Health in London, which addressed the Prime Minister’s challenge to improve research and programs for dementia. Rep. Matsui shared a story with the Minister of Health about a woman she met at a meeting in Sacramento, CA. This woman had struggled through her husband's seven-year battle with Alzheimer's disease. Even after saving responsibly for retirement, the cost of a full-time care facility was out of reach. The physical, financial, and emotional stress that caretaking had taken on this woman was palpable.

Representative Doris Matsui

Rep. Matsui emphasized the need to address both patient and caregiver issues. In the US, many women are caregivers of children and parents as well as their own spouses. Alzheimer's disease is one of the top five leading causes of death for women, and it affects women across the US Last August, Rep. Matsui provided leadership for a bipartisan letter to the National Institute on Aging at NIH asking for more information on research efforts to explore gender-based differences in patients affected by Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.

Before today’s panel, Rep. Matsui looked at her district's health snapshot in the RWJF-funded County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, published by the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin. She was disappointed to see that Sacramento County, one of two counties that make up parts of her district, ranked relatively high in "premature death" – that is, years of life lost before age 75. She noted that while her district does a lot to provide health care to its population, that in order to build a Culture of Health, additional efforts are needed to encourage healthy behaviors, such as smoking cessation and exercise. Finally, Rep. Matsui emphasized that mental health is an integral part of an individual’s health. This is deeply personal to the Congresswoman because her sister was diagnosed with schizophrenia many years ago.

Recently, Rep. Matsui was successful in securing a demonstration project based on her bipartisan Excellence in Mental Health Act, which was enacted earlier this year. This demonstration project calls for a billion dollars to be spent for the provision of mental health care. The Congresswoman noted that she wants to do more to ensure that the full range of mental health and substance abuse services are provided to those who need them. She concluded by saying that women need to take care of ourselves and look after each other so that our health becomes a priority.

Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA) opened by saying that the topic of rising mortality for women is disconcerting and noted that when she was young, "We vowed to make the world a better place for our daughters. Today, we still have to fight for equal access, equal rights, and even equal health." The Congresswoman underscored that the US is the only developed nation in the world with a rising maternal mortality rate, which is shocking given all of the resources that are available. Rep. Capps said that she is very proud of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) because of its inclusion of key preventive services in the “essential benefits” of insurance plans, at no cost to patients. This provision of the law represents a major paradigm shift in our health care system, helping us to foster a more holistic Culture of Health that especially stands to benefit women.

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