Stimulus Package Re-Energizes Fight Against Heart Disease and Stroke

By Nancy Brown, Chief Executive Officer of American Heart Association

Today we witnessed a historic victory for the health of Americans when Congress approved the economic recovery bill that includes a number of provisions to help reduce heart disease and stroke.

Our congressional champions – Senator Arlen Specter, Senator Tom Harkin - and many others helped secure a significant funding increase of $10 billion for the National Institutes of Health. We thank them for their leadership and determination to support the research community with an infusion of dollars for scientific discoveries that will help us find a cure for heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. This is an important down payment on President Obama’s pledge to double science funding over the next decade. We thank the congress and the Administration for recognizing that NIH funding can help cure the economy as well as disease.

Other provisions supported by the association include those that will promote health information technology, increase funding for comparative effectiveness research, support State-based prevention programs, extend health insurance for the unemployed, address health disparities and allow for the renovation of school facilities – including those that promote physical activity - to address our nation’s childhood obesity epidemic.

With passage of this important legislation, we are one step closer to our goal of building healthier lives free of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Our You’re the Cure advocates have been instrumental in contacting lawmakers on priority funding issues and their efforts have made a difference.

This legislation is a testament to the importance of our work in advocacy made possible by your commitment and support of the American Heart Association. As we move forward, we hope we can continue to count on you to help us encourage our elected officials to support measures that preserve and protect research funding, improve health care quality, expand access to all, and support policies that prevent cardiovascular disease.