Three bipartisan members of Congress joined forces for a Global Loneliness Awareness Summit in Washington this week. Despite differing policy approaches to addressing loneliness and social isolation, Sens. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) have all heeded Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s advisory report, which last year warned that both issues are underappreciated public health concerns. They represent a crisis the surgeon general believes should be prioritized the way we prioritize health threats like smoking and obesity. Why it matters: Loneliness is associated with myriad physical and mental health problems, with a growing body of evidence linking loneliness and isolation to a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression and anxiety. View from Congress: On Tuesday, Smith, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, called for reauthorizing the Older Americans Act, which includes a social isolation and loneliness provision that provides screenings and social services for older Americans. Smith also described loneliness policy’s evolution from a nonstarter issue to a legitimate policy concern. When she first started working on the issue in the Senate, she recalled being told: “You can't legislate away loneliness.” “I thought, well, that’s kind of ridiculous because there’s so much that we can do to address the underlying causes of social isolation and loneliness,” Smith said at the summit, citing federal programs like Meals on Wheels and support for caregivers and community groups that facilitate social connection. With loneliness in the zeitgeist, Smith’s concern is shared by her Republican colleagues, including Flood, who advocates for a narrower approach to loneliness policy. Flood, who introduced the Improving Measurements for Loneliness and Isolation Act last year, wants to define loneliness and social isolation and determine how to measure progress on them before putting forth policy. Flood, along with Nebraska Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts and Connecticut Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy, plans to ask the U.S. Government Accountability Office to collect the available data on loneliness and social isolation, he said Tuesday. “Let’s start there and then work our way into the future,” Flood said.
| 
