Issue Position: Healthcare

Issue Position

I know how it feels to go without healthcare. For too many of us it's a difficult choice to make: to pay insurmountable premiums or take the risk of not having insurance at all. It's terrible. And, with or without health insurance, we're still buried in medical bills and debt.

Even after meaningful reform from both parties, people continue to die every day in our state because they are unable to afford or access quality health care. Everyone should have access to affordable care options -- no matter your health history, your income, or your zip code.

We need to put the political games aside and focus on real reform that fixes what is broken and protects what is working. As your Member of Congress, I will only vote for reform efforts if they increase coverage and affordability. Specifically, I will:

Protect improvements that have been made by both parties, such as protecting those with pre-existing conditions and removing life-time insurance caps.
Find ways to lower costs by covering more preventive treatments like cancer screenings, while also more aggressively eliminating waste and fraud from our healthcare system.
Fight to strengthen and expand Medicare and Medicaid, not cut them.
Help the Center for Disease Control provide more grants for birthing centers and incentivize health care professionals to consider rural areas when considering opening practices.
Work to dismantle healthcare costs from employment status.
Work to make prescription drugs more affordable by allowing Medicare to negotiate prices with drug companies and by requiring more transparency and accountability from pharmaceutical companies.

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