Issue Position: Healthcare

Issue Position

Healthcare:

Access to quality, affordable healthcare is not only the right thing to do, it is vital to the economic viability of our communities here in northern New Mexico. 47 million Americans have no health insurance and as many more are under insured. 71% of those with health insurance get their insurance through the employer-based system, which is already coming under pressure for drastic cuts. Also, we have a system that makes its profit from treating diseases rather than preventing them. It costs a lot more to treat disease than to prevent it in the first place, and prevention involves more than just health care. Prevention involves public health protection, stopping pollution in our air, water and food supply, early access to diagnosis.

I am committed to working to reduce costs as well as increasing prevention and access by any and all means that can work. Merely forcing people to buy health insurance is not the answer. And we all know that it's going to take a huge effort to replace the entire health insurance industry with a single-payer plan, but the good news is we are moving closer to that everyday.

Source