Congress expands heart-health screenings for low-income women
H.R. 7417 — Women’s Heart Health Expansion Act of 2026 · Filed by Joyce Beatty (D-OH) · 29 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 9, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill reauthorizes and expands the WISEWOMAN program, a CDC-run initiative that provides preventive health screenings and referrals to low-income women. It adds new services (blood pressure and cholesterol screening, health education) beyond the existing breast and cervical cancer focus, and authorizes $250 million over five fiscal years (2027–2031) to fund these expanded services through CDC grants to state and local health agencies.
Why we flagged it
The bill straightforwardly expands a federal preventive health program for low-income women by adding new screening services and appropriating funds. It is a routine reauthorization with modest scope expansion, not a tax measure, deregulation, or private carve-out.
What the text implies
- Expansion of preventive screening may reduce downstream emergency department utilization and hospitalizations for cardiovascular events, generating indirect cost savings to Medicare/Medicaid and the health system.
- Program relies on state/local health agencies and designated entities for delivery; quality and reach will depend on implementation capacity and state participation — no guarantee of uniform access across all low-income women nationally.
- Eligibility criteria for 'other women who are low-income' are set by the Secretary (CDC Director) via regulation, not statute — the actual income thresholds and scope are not fixed in this bill.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Low-income women gain access to expanded preventive health screenings and referrals at no direct cost to them. Early detection of hypertension and high cholesterol reduces downstream cardiovascular disease, hospitalizations, and mortality — a clear public health benefit. The program targets a population with documented health disparities and limited access to preventive care.
Who stands to gain
- State and local health departments (grant recipients)
- Community health centers and designated screening entities (service providers)
- Low-income women (beneficiaries of preventive services)
Named in the bill
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), WISEWOMAN program, Public Health Service Act, Section 1501 (breast and cervical cancer screening grants), Section 1509 (supplemental grants for preventive health services)
Where it stands
29 cosponsors: 24 Democrats, 5 Republicans.
- Feb 9, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 9, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
3 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $490,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 6 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 61% of bills with at least one filing.
Joyce Beatty, the sponsor, reported $972,989 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Heart Association — $400,000 on 1 filing
- The Mended Hearts, Inc. — $60,000 on 1 filing
- Association of Black Cardiologists — $30,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,810 characters) on Jul 2, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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