September is Cholesterol Education Month, joining us to discuss tips on staying healthy is preventative cardiologist Dr. Seth Baum of The Family Heart Foundation. Learn more at theheartfoundation.org
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:01 September is Cholesterol Awareness Month,
00:04 and while there are many treatment options
00:06 for those living with high LDL cholesterol,
00:09 the bad cholesterol,
00:11 some are easier to access than others.
00:13 Well, I had a chance to talk with Dr. Seth Baum
00:15 about getting the right treatments.
00:17 (upbeat music)
00:19 Good morning, doctor.
00:20 How are you doing?
00:20 - I'm doing very well.
00:23 How are you doing?
00:23 - I'm doing good.
00:24 All right, let's talk about this
00:26 and discussing the high LDL,
00:29 and of course, bad cholesterol,
00:31 and how we make sure we take care of ourself
00:33 because of this kind of, of course,
00:36 cholesterol being high can have effect
00:39 on heart attacks and strokes and stuff.
00:41 - Yeah, so the first thing to understand
00:46 is that heart disease remains the number one killer
00:49 in the United States.
00:50 We need to do everything we can
00:52 to reduce our risk of getting heart disease,
00:55 and LDL cholesterol is a major driver
00:58 of heart disease.
00:59 LDL clogs our arteries, leads to stroke,
01:03 heart attack, cardiovascular death.
01:07 We need to know our number.
01:08 We need to take medications to reduce our LDL cholesterol
01:13 to a safe zone, if you will.
01:16 We have plenty of therapeutics available to do so,
01:19 and it's important to recognize that.
01:21 But the problem is that insurance companies
01:24 have constructed tremendous barriers
01:26 to accessing some of these more advanced therapeutics,
01:30 and this is extremely problematic.
01:33 - Doctor, again, I don't have a problem saying this,
01:36 but I am on cholesterol medicine,
01:37 but you said something that was very important there,
01:39 and that is access to, of course, good healthcare,
01:42 and again, medicine that does help with our cholesterol.
01:46 - Yes, and access, obviously, is critical.
01:50 We can have all the greatest medications in the world,
01:51 and if you can't get 'em,
01:53 they're really not very meaningful for you.
01:55 So if you look at the PCSK9 inhibitor,
01:57 it's a great lipid-lowering drug,
01:59 lowers LDL cholesterol 60-plus percent,
02:02 was released and approved by FDA in 2015.
02:05 90% of prescriptions written by doctors
02:08 are denied by insurers,
02:11 leaving patients in trouble, quite frankly.
02:13 And the FH, oh, excuse me, the Family Heart Foundation
02:17 wrote a paper, a very meaningful paper
02:20 in a very important journal a few years back
02:22 that demonstrated not only that this is occurring,
02:26 that the insurers are blocking access,
02:29 but also that there are serious consequences.
02:32 Heart attacks and strokes are occurring very quickly
02:36 in these patients who are denied access to the drugs,
02:39 frankly, within months, further highlighting the urgency
02:43 with regard to reducing LDL cholesterol.
02:47 - Yeah, and I think we, as, of course,
02:49 patients need to start speaking up.
02:51 We also need to go and research this
02:53 and not be discouraged because of, you know,
02:56 we're hearing these prices on the medicine
02:57 or things not being, of course, accessible.
03:00 We have to speak up, don't we?
03:01 - We certainly do.
03:04 And the patients have the loudest voices,
03:06 so I'm so happy you said that.
03:08 We need to use our voices, work with your doctors,
03:12 call the insurance company and push back,
03:15 say, "Well, my doctor prescribed this, but I need it."
03:18 Call the insurance commissioner, if necessary,
03:20 in your state, and then use resources like
03:23 ldlsafezone.org and the Family Heart Foundation
03:28 because they can be very, very good allies
03:30 and help people navigate these very turbulent waters.
03:35 - Yeah, a doctor, again, very important
03:37 of everything you said there, and especially,
03:39 we have to start taking responsibility for our own health
03:41 and using our voices with our doctors and everybody.
03:44 So again, tell everybody
03:45 where we can find more information.
03:47 So go to ldlsafezone.org, that's ldlsafezone.org,
03:52 part of the Family Heart Foundation.
03:57 - All right, doctor, thank you very much
03:58 for joining us this morning.
04:00 - Thank you.
04:01 (silence)
04:03 (silence)
04:06 (silence)
04:08 (silence)
04:10 (silence)
04:12 [BLANK_AUDIO]