Healthcare Access & Medicare-for-All

Healthcare is a human right.

Everyone should have healthcare, regardless of their employment status, their identity, or their background. 

As a healthcare worker, I saw firsthand how our pain generates profits for Wall Street, health insurers, and big pharma. People have to ration medication, skip treatment, or avoid calling an ambulance because they can’t afford what should never have had a price tag in the first place. 

Passing Medicare-for-All

I will fight to pass Medicare-for-All: a single-payer system that covers every person in this country from birth, with no premiums, no deductibles, no copays, and no networks. Healthcare decisions belong between patients and providers, not insurance adjusters looking for reasons to deny care. Medicare for All is less expensive in the long term than the fragmented, profit-driven system we have now.

Coverage under Medicare-for-All must be comprehensive. That means mental health, vision, hearing, and dental are included as core benefits for every person. The artificial distinction between "medical" care and care for our eyes, ears, teeth, and mind exists because it's profitable, not because it matches our bodies’ needs. 

Taking on Big Pharma and the Insurance Industry

Pharmaceutical companies extract massive profits from drugs developed with public research dollars and then charge Americans more than any other country in the world for those same medications. I will work to fix this injustice through legislation that:

• Removes the statutory limits on Medicare's ability to negotiate drug prices across the board.

• Caps profits on any drug that relies on publicly funded research.

• Bans direct-to-patient pharmaceutical advertising, as almost every other developed democracy already does. These ads just help drive up prices and pressure healthcare providers to prescribe overpriced drugs.

• Invests in drug intervention and addiction treatment. We need to treat substance use as a public health crisis rather than as a criminal issue. 

Building the Healthcare Workforce

We have a healthcare worker shortage because it’s exorbitantly expensive to earn medical degrees, the pay is not nearly as lucrative as most people assume, and the job is immensely stressful. We need to help healthcare workers feel secure and comfortable in their career path. I will push for legislation that:

• Provides federal tuition funding for all public trade schools, colleges, and universities, including medical and nursing schools.

• Creates and enhances loan repayment programs for healthcare workers, providing widespread debt relief as well as targeted relief for people working in underserved communities. 

• Allocates funding to support the opening of more medical schools and expands residency slots so we train enough clinicians to meet demand.

• Assists in recruiting and training healthcare workers from marginalized backgrounds. Patient outcomes improve measurably when patients can find providers who look like them, speak their language, and understand their lived experience.

Protecting Healthcare Workers

We can't have a functioning healthcare system without protecting the people who deliver care. I will fight to:

• End subcontracting, independent contractor employment models, and the misclassification of employees as contractors. These practices strip workers of benefits, bargaining power, and basic protections in favor of employer profit. This aligns with the worker protections of the PRO Act and stronger labor standards.

• Establish safe, fact-based staffing ratios enforceable by federal law. Doctors, nurses, and techs should maintain patient ratios that allow them to spend ample time and care with each patient. 

• Strengthen workplace safety standards and OSHA enforcement for all workers, especially in healthcare settings where workplace violence and injury rates have increased substantially.

• Guarantee the right to organize without retaliation across every healthcare employer, public or private.

Advocating for Rural and Under-served Communities

Rural hospitals are closing at a frightening rate, and when they close, people die. Market forces are not going to fix this problem.

I will advocate for permanent federal funding and operation of rural and under-served medical facilities across the country. I will also promote the construction of new hospitals where none exist. Models like the VA and the Indian Health Service show that the federal government can run care facilities directly. We need to double down on funding for the VA and IHS and use that as a baseline for new facilities. 

Dealing with Mental Health and Substance Use

I've helped people in the military and as civilians when they were in mental health crises, and I've been through those struggles myself. Mental healthcare has to be a core component of basic medical care. I will fight in Congress for:

• Full parity and integration of mental health into primary care, with walk-in access at federally operated facilities.

• Increased funding and infrastructure for life preservation and suicide prevention programs, also supporting continued expansion and adequate staffing of the 988 crisis line and community-based crisis response systems.

• Dramatic expansion of the behavioral health workforce through tuition assistance and specialized training programs.

• Addressing the addiction, overdose, and suicide rates tied directly to financial precarity, isolation, and lack of access. Programs that help people feel financially secure and connected to their communities are vital for preventing these harmful behaviors. 

Preparing for Pandemics and Public Health Crises

COVID-19 showed us what happens when public health infrastructure is designed for profit instead of preserving public health. I will push for federal legislation that supports:

• Substantially increased federal funding for PPE stockpiles and infectious disease preparedness, updated regularly so we are prepared for the next pandemic or public health crisis.

• Ventilation and filtration upgrades in medical facilities, protecting both workers and patients from airborne transmission of pathogens.

• Public health campaigns against health misinformation and disinformation, which has cost American lives and continues to endanger healthcare workers.

• Stronger enforcement of safe animal agriculture practices. Industrial factory farming is the number one source of diseases and pandemics. 

Promoting Equity and Inclusive Care

Gender-affirming care is healthcare. I will oppose every attempt to strip transgender people of the medical care their doctors agree they need, and I will work to guarantee access through federal programs.

Culturally competent care has to be built into how we train and evaluate healthcare workers. Cultural competence can help reduce discrimination in delivering care, recruit providers from the communities they serve, require meaningful cultural competency training, and ensure language accessibility in every facility.