WASHINGTON — For the first time ever, a bipartisan Senate committee held a hearing focused on what lawmakers are calling the "menopause care gap," a term used to describe critical shortfalls in care for the more than 1 million U.S. women who go through menopause every year.

Congressional lawmakers said women's health is "one of the most under-researched, under-treated and under-discussed topics" in the country.

"Women have carried this alone for generations. Not anymore," U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York said.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida also weighed in during the hearing. "There's simply no excuse for the lack of resources and information," Scott said.

Dr. Lynne Coslett-Charlton, a witness at the hearing representing the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the situation is one that does not have to continue. "There's no reason that we have to tough this out," Coslett-Charlton said.

"We really want women to be able to thrive and we want women to maintain their independence and we want women to feel well as they age," Coslett-Charlton said.

Among the barriers raised during the hearing was a significant lack of federal research funding. "Less than 1% of federal research funding goes to menopause and midlife women's health," said Jennifer Weiss-Wolf of the Birnbaum Women's Leadership Center at NYU Law.

Experts also pointed to physician shortages, especially in rural areas and gaps in doctors' menopausal education as reasons older women are falling through the cracks of the healthcare system.

"My own OBGYN education was focused largely on reproductive issues and pregnancy. I received very little menopausal training in my core curriculum," Gynecologist Dr. Suzanne Silverman Fenske said.

Inadequate health insurance coverage and shortages of some hormone treatments were also raised as concerns. "There is therapy that can help improve their quality of life, therapy that may provide preventative health benefits for them and also decrease some symptoms that can be very burdensome and debilitating," Coslett-Charlton said.

Experts at the hearing made clear that access to those treatments should not depend on a person's financial situation. "It really should be care for all," Coslett-Charlton said.