More women die from heart disease than from any other cause. In fact, one in four women in the United States dies from heart disease, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

“The risk of heart disease increases for everyone as they age,” says cardiologist Shari Targum, M.D., a medical officer at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “For women, the risk goes up after menopause, but younger women can also develop heart disease.”

FDA offers many resources to help educate women of all ages about the safe use of FDA-approved drugs and devices for the treatment and prevention of heart disease.

FDA has fact sheets, videos, and other web-based tools on heart disease and conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure that may increase a woman’s risk for heart disease.

FDA created the “Heart Health for Women” site to connect women to FDA resources to support heart-healthy living. Visit the website at: www.fda.gov/womenshearthealth

“I encourage women of all ages to look to FDA for resources to help them reduce their risk for heart disease and make informed decisions about their health,” says Marsha Henderson, director of the Office of Women’s Health at FDA.

Heart Health for Women

When you think about heart disease, you probably imagine heart attacks and chest pain. But women need to know that heart health is about more than just heart attacks. Women need to take steps to reduce their risk for heart disease:

• Manage conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol that can increase your risk for heart disease.

• Learn to recognize the symptoms of a heart attack in women, including nausea, anxiety, an ache or feeling of tightness in the chest, and pain in the upper body.

• Use the Nutrition Label to make heart-healthy food choices.

• Daily use of aspirin is not right for everyone. Talk with a health care professional before you use aspirin as a way to prevent heart attacks.

• If you smoke, try to quit. See our booklet to learn more about medicines to help you quit.

• Talk to a health professional about whether you can participate in a clinical trial for a heart medication or procedure. Visit the FDA Patient Network to learn more about clinical trials.

Menopause and Heart Health

“Menopause does not cause heart disease,” says Targum. “But the decline in estrogen after menopause may be one of several factors in the increase in heart disease risk.” Other risks, such as weight gain, may also increase around the time of menopause.

Hormone therapy is used to treat some of the problems women have during menopause. “However, the American Heart Association recommends against using post-menopausal estrogen hormone replacement therapy to prevent heart disease,” says Targum.

Make a Plan, Take Action

Work with your health care team to make a plan for your heart health. Whatever your regimen, make sure to keep a list of your medicines and bring it with you to all of your appointments. Download a medication booklet and visit the FDA website for updates on medicine, nutrition and more.

This article appears on www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/default.htm FDA’s Consumer Updates page, which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products.

May 23, 2013

The free event runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Van Asselt Elementary (formerly the African American Academy), 8311 Beacon Ave. S., in Seattle, on Metro bus line 106. About 750 people attended last year.

Free health screenings. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., participants can receive a free kidney health screening and private consultation with a doctor about the results.

The screening includes a finger stick for a blood sample, urinalysis, blood pressure and weight check. Diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity all contribute to the current epidemic of kidney disease.

Educational presentations. A health education program from 10 a.m. to noon will be hosted by Chris B. Bennett, publisher ofThe Seattle Medium newspaper and talk show host on KRIZ/KYIZ/KZIZ Radio.

Dr. Jonathan Himmelfarb, director of the Kidney Research Institute in Seattle, will be among the speakers. Himmelfarb is an international authority who can explain up-to-the-minute science in terms lay people can understand.

He will talk about the reasons why kidney disease is more common in African Americans than in Caucasians, and the latest thinking about ways to prevent and treat it.

Healthy, tasty lunch. At noon, noted local chefs will serve a free lunch. Donating their services are Jemil Johnson of Jemil’s Big Easy, Mulugeta Abate of Pan Africa, Theo Martin of Island Soul, Anthony Davis of AMD’s Catering, and Kristi Brown-Wokoma of That Brown Girl Catering.

Entertainment. The award-winning Pacific Northwest Drumline Association will kick off the day, and the energy will stay high with performances by electric fusion band Comfort Food, rapper Willa Scrilla, singers and musicians from the NAACP ACT-SO program, spoken word artists, the Liberation United Church of Christ choir, and more.

Special activities for children include an obstacle course and a visit from the Black Firefighters Association truck.

Focus on fitness. Edna Daigre from Ewajo Center, Ajene Bomani-Robertson from the Austin Foundation, and Jannine Young from Core Power Yoga will speak and get the audience moving with fitness demonstrations.

This year’s Fest is dedicated to the memory of Willie Austin, former University of Washington football player and power lifting champion. His Austin Foundation provides youth with vital access to fitness and nutrition. A regular and popular presenter at the Fest, he died unexpectedly April 24,2013.

Local churches are co-hosts, providing volunteers and encouraging attendance. They include Damascus Baptist, First AME, Freedom Church of Seattle, Goodwill Missionary Baptist, Immaculate Conception, Liberation United Church of Christ, Madison Park Church of Christ, Mt. Zion Baptist, New Beginnings Christian Fellowship, New Hope Missionary Baptist, Pentecostal Covenant Church, Southside Church of Christ, St. Mary’s, Tabernacle Missionary Baptist, and Walker Chapel AME.

Community partner organizations. More than 30 exhibitors will be on hand to share resources for healthy living.

“Everyone is welcome to attend the Fest, have fun and learn about kidney disease and healthy living – and it’s completely free!” said Dr. Bessie Young, a Seattle kidney specialist who has chaired the community organizing committee since the Fest began. “Bring your friends and family and make a day of it. People of every age can have fun while they learn how to keep their families healthy.”

One in seven American adults has kidney disease. In the African American community, the number increases four-fold. Although African Americans make up 12 percent of the U.S. population, 35 percent of individuals with kidney failure on dialysis are African American. In addition, African American men are 10 to 14 times more likely to develop kidney failure due to high blood pressure than Caucasian men in the same age group.

Participants in the Kidney Health Fest will learn how to improve their lives to avoid kidney disease. This includes:

• Treating high blood pressure and diabetes, two of the leading causes of kidney failure.
• Quitting smoking.
• Reducing added salt and processed, packaged and fast food.
• Eating healthy to avoid obesity.
• Exercising at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week.
• Avoiding the overuse of pain relievers such as ibuprofen and naproxen, which can damage kidneys.

For more information about the event or to pre-register, visit www.nwkidney.org/fest. The Twitter hashtag for the Fest is #healthfest.

Today’s headlines include various status updates about state activity regarding the health law’s online insurance marketplaces.

The Wall Street Journal: Two States Seek Help With Health Exchanges
Two states that had planned to run their own health-insurance exchanges this fall are asking the federal government for help in the first year, a sign of the obstacles states face in carrying out a centerpiece of the health-care overhaul. Idaho and New Mexico had been among a few Republican-led states that had agreed to operate their own health exchanges, which will offer a variety of insurance plans for people who don’t have coverage otherwise (Dooren, 5/22).

Los Angeles Times: UnitedHealth, Aetna And Cigna Opt Out Of California Exchange
Some prominent health insurers, including industry giant UnitedHealth Group Inc., are not participating in California’s new state-run health insurance market, possibly limiting the number of choices for millions of consumers. UnitedHealth, the nation’s largest private insurer, Aetna Inc. and Cigna Corp. are sitting out the first year of Covered California, the state’s insurance exchange and a key testing ground nationally for a massive coverage expansion under the federal healthcare law (Terhune, 5/22).

Politico: Clock Ticking On Full Medicaid Expansion Funds
States still mired in the fight over the Obamacare Medicaid expansion are starting to give up on their first year of full funding — and it’s unclear whether they would be able to tap into the money before 2015. Expansion remains an open question in about a dozen states after months of legislative fights. As more states continue to wrap up their budgets, some are already looking to next year’s legislative sessions as their next shot at the expansion, even amid calls for state legislatures to return for special sessions (Millman, 5/23).

The Wall Street Journal: Contraception Violates Beliefs, Firms Tell Court
Two small-business owners challenging contraception-coverage mandates in the federal health-care law told a federal appellate court Wednesday the law would force them to violate their beliefs because they run their businesses in accordance with their religious faith. The Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago is the first federal appellate court to hear arguments in cases challenging the mandate that took effect last August for most employers to cover contraception, including the morning-after pill, in workers’ insurance plans without out-of-pocket costs (Kesling and Radnofsky, 5/22).

The Washington Post: Some Business Owners Resist Providing Employees With Contraceptive Coverage
Religiously devout business owners are waging a broad rebellion against providing their employees with contraceptive coverage, bringing dozens of lawsuits that seem certain to land the issue before the Supreme Court. The company owners say their religious beliefs take precedence over a new federal requirement, contained in President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, that they give employees insurance that covers contraceptives (Barnes, 5/22).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Hobby Lobby Appeal Tests Limits Of Federal Birth-Control Coverage Mandate
In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is asking a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill. The Oklahoma City-based arts-and-crafts chain argues that businesses — not just the currently exempted religious groups — should be allowed to seek exception from that part of the health law if it violates their religious beliefs (5/23).

USA Today: Incentives Push Doctors To Electronic Medical Records
More than half of doctors’ offices and 80% of hospitals that provide Medicare or Medicaid will have electronic health records by the end of the year, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday (Kennedy, 5/22).

The New York Times’ Bucks Blog: Family Medical Costs Still Rising
The good news is health care costs are going up more slowly. The bad news is that families continue to see larger medical bills. The typical cost to cover a family of four now exceeds $22,000, including the amount paid in insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs, according to the latest Milliman Medical Index for 2013. Milliman, an actuarial and benefits consultant, puts the cost at slightly less than the amount a family might pay to send a child to an in-state public college for a year (Abelson, 5/22).

Los Angeles Times: Geography Has A Role In Elective Surgery Decisions, Study Finds
Geography plays a role in whether patients in California have elective operations such as joint replacement, weight loss surgery and gallbladder removal, according to a new study. The California HealthCare Foundation study showed wide variations in patient surgeries across the state (Gorman, 5/22).

Los Angeles Times: Most Unionized UC Hospital Workers Go To Jobs Despite Strike
As University of California patient care workers returned to the picket lines Wednesday, hospital administrators said they were gratified that so many others chose to come to work. More than three-quarters of union members who had been scheduled to work Tuesday did so, said Dianne Klein, spokeswoman for the UC office of the president. Hospital officials said they expected a similar turnout Wednesday (Gorman, 5/22).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: American Samoa To Keep Frequent Flier Miles Of Government Travelers; Use For Sick, Students
American Samoa plans to take away frequent flier miles from government workers who travel on behalf of the U.S. territory and use the loyalty points to help medical patients and students travel off the islands when necessary (5/22).

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This is part of Kaiser Health News’ Daily Report – a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day’s news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.

This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

By Phil Galewitz

Colorado became the latest state Wednesday to post proposed health insurance plans for its new online marketplace, which is slated begin enrolling people in coverage Oct. 1.

What stands out is the sheer number of insurers who want to participate. Eleven carriers submitted a total of 813 individual and small group health plans they would like to sell on the state’s marketplace, also called an exchange, under the federal health care overhaul.

In comparison, nine insurers have applied to sell 57 plans on the Washington state marketplace, according to Washington’s Healthplanfinder. California is expected to release its proposed submissions on Thursday.

State regulators must review and certify that the plans comply with the law before they can be sold in the marketplaces.

Corrected at 6:00 p.m. to reflect that 11 insurers, rather than 17 have submitted policies to sell in the state’s new online health insurance marketplace.  The larger number includes those proposing to sell both inside and outside the online marketplace.

While Colorado regulators said they are encouraged by the number of carriers who want to participate—hoping competition will help keep down premium costs—it worries agents.

“I would say that number has to come down or people are going to be overwhelmed by the choices they have,” said Marie DeWolf, who runs an insurance agency in Greeley, Colo.

The online marketplaces are one of the key ways the health law expands coverage to millions of people not offered coverage by their employers.

Consumers will be able to compare plans on the websites and find out whether they might be eligible for government subsidies to help defray the cost of premiums.

The Colorado marketplace called Connect for Colorado has not limited how many plans carriers can offer for each category of standardized coverage.

Some other states, including California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Nevada, New York and Oregon, are limiting the number of plans each plan can offer, according to Avalere Health, a consulting firm.

A few years after the federal government started the Medicare prescription drug program, it also limited the number of plans each carrier could offer in an effort to reduce consumer confusion.

Colorado Insurance Commissioner Jim Riesberg said a preliminary review shows that monthly proposed premiums for the new plans “vary widely,” depending on what portion of medical expenses the plan will pay and what portion consumers will be responsible for through co-pays and other out-of-pocket costs.

He also noted that some of the proposals do not meet the  requirements of the law.

“We are very encouraged by the number of health insurance carriers that want to participate in Colorado,” Riesberg said in a statement. “

As the regulatory agency charged with ensuring a competitive marketplace for health insurance companies in Colorado, we believe that a greater number of carriers means more choice for Colorado residents.”

In the next two months,  he said his staff will examine the plans to make sure they meet new requirements for essential health benefits, such as hospitalization, maternity, newborn care and wellness services.

This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

PeaceHealth, a not-for-profit system based in Clark County and founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, operates nine hospitals and physician groups in Alaska, Washington and Oregon, and a Medicaid health plan.

Ostrom writes:

The two organizations said they will remain legally separate and independent, but critics of such affiliations noted that after Swedish Medical Center used such language in an affiliation with Providence Health & Services last year, it stopped doing elective abortions and closed its hospice service.

The U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services restrict such services as abortion, birth control, sterilization and patients’ rights regarding end-of-life treatment.

Seattle Times staff columnist Danny Westneat questions the growing role of the Catholic church in healthcare in Washington state.

By the end of this year, half of our state’s medical system will be Catholic-run, as measured by number of hospital beds. That’s the highest share in the nation, and rising fast — up from about 30 percent just last year. Somehow our godless state has become Ground Zero for faith-based medicine.

He asks:

We’d never turn our education system over to one church to run. Why are we doing it with health care?

To learn more:

• Read Ostrom’s article: UW Medicine, Catholic health system to have ‘strategic affiliation’
• Read Westneat’s column: Is Catholic Church taking over health care in Washington?