HEALTHCARE

I LOST MY DAUGHTER SHALYNNE TO OUR NATION’S BARBARIC PROFIT-DRIVEN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM. I’LL NEVER STOP FIGHTING FOR TRUE HEALTHCARE JUSTICE VIA A SINGLE-PAYER MEDICARE FOR ALL SYSTEM.

My daughter, Shalynne, died needlessly because she was failed by our corporate-centric, profit-driven “healthcare” system. Last year, too many of our friends, families, and neighbors left us or found themselves with insurmountable debt due to the same rotten system. We know there’s a better way: a way that doesn’t leave behind senior citizens, that doesn’t leave behind our unhoused and uninsured, that doesn’t leave behind our students or those in poverty. We just have to be bold enough to stand up in the face of an industry that is willing to trade your life for profit. We have to be courageous enough to fight for another way forward, building a system of our own that echoes the successful systems of other countries, but which takes into account the unique challenges of our own.

RECENT HEALTHCARE HEADLINES:

SLATE · 09/07/2021

Just Say It: The Health Care System Has Collapsed

THE WASHINGTON POST · 08/13/2021

Opinion: The coming health-care lobbying frenzy over the reconciliation bill

We’re the richest country in the world, yet we allow over 40,000 people to die every single year due to a lack of health insurance. It should not be considered controversial to say—and no elected official should have to be pushed to agree—that a system that decides who lives and who dies based on their income is an immoral system. We don’t need elected officials who are going to sit by while our family members die, or who wring their hands and wait for a better time, a better political climate, a better season. We need brave voices to lead the charge for system overhaul now. People are dying. We cannot wait any longer.

We must create a Medicare for All, single-payer, national health insurance program that gives everyone comprehensive healthcare coverage. No more networks, deductibles, premiums, copays, and surprise bills. Under Medicare for All, dental, hearing, vision, and home-and community-based-long-term-care, in-patient and out-patient services, mental health and substance abuse treatment, reproductive and maternity care, and needed prescription drugs will be included and available to everyone.

The pandemic exposed how unprepared for disaster our healthcare system is, even in the richest private hospitals. We need a comprehensive, detailed plan—including stock piles of PPE and basic equipment—so we can be ready if and when another pandemic or large-scale disaster strikes.

We must repeal the Hyde Amendment. People who can get pregnant must have control over their own bodies, full stop.

WHEN ELECTED, YOU CAN COUNT ON MY SUPPORT FOR THE FOLLOWING

POLICY PRIORITIES AND LEGISLATION ON DAY ONE:

Repeal the Hyde Amendment
End the injustice of employer-provided health insurance insurance, guaranteeing care to all
Require employers to to re-invest savings from moving to a single-payer in workers via higher wages and compensation, or other benefits
Protect and ensure full funding of the Veterans Administration
Enforce the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA)
Decrease staffing to patient ratios so that nurses are not overworked and underpaid
Establish hazard pay for frontline healthcare workers who—just as they have done during the COVID-19 pandemic—are often risking their own lives to save ours
H.R.3755 - Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021, by Rep. Judy Chu
H.R.1976 - Medicare for All Act of 2021, by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, which will:
- Create a single-payer, Medicare for All health insurance program that gives care to everyone, free at the point of service
- Get rid of networks, premiums, deductibles, copays, and surprise bills
- Include dental, hearing, vision, and home-and community-based-long-term-care, in-patient and out-patient services, mental health and substance abuse treatment, reproductive and maternity care, and needed prescription drugs