Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

Providing quality health care for all Americans has been a passion and a profession for me. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act has provided access to health care for ten million previously uninsured Americans, and that is only the beginning. Minnesota is already a leader in creating programs for health care access and quality care, but program modifications and creative problem solving will be needed in the future. As an economist specializing in health care issues and an educator specializing in health care management, I am eager to roll my sleeves up and work on those solutions for Duluth and Minnesota.

We need to have health care that provides access for all Americans to efficient and effective care that does not bankrupt them, the state, or the country. As a legislator, I will work to reduce the price for health care services, lower health insurance premiums and increase access to care. MNsure, our state health insurance exchange, has relatively low premiums but high deductibles (out-of-pocket spending). For those who qualify for subsidies, it works well. But for many, health care is not affordable. We need to fix our health care system so it works for all of us.

Reproductive Health

I am pro-choice and believe that politicians should stay out of a woman's personal and private decision whether or not to have an abortion. We need to focus on reducing the need for abortion by preventing unintended pregnancies and supporting women who choose adoption. Research shows we can cut unintended pregnancy and pregnancy by teens in half or more by education and availability of birth control.

In 2012 new federal laws re-confirmed that churches would not be required to offer insurance coverage for birth control to church employees. I strongly support freedom of religion. But corporations that operate hospital systems, universities and private businesses, including those affiliated with a church, should not be allowed to discriminate when it comes to individual employees' access to birth control. Female employees of different faiths, not their corporate employers, should have the freedom to make personal and private decisions about the use of birth control. This is in keeping with the historic separation of personal and public responsibility for religious beliefs.

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