Medicare for All

Healthcare is a human right, and right now too many people go without it. Texans deeply feel the failure of our current healthcare system.

Texas leads the country in people without health insurance, and we have seen the most rural hospital closings of any state in the last 10 years. District 25 saw the 2014 closure of a rural hospital in Whitney, 35 miles north of Waco. Working-class Texans are putting off necessary surgeries and doctor visits because we simply can’t afford them. Others are forced to use sites like GoFundMe to raise money for expensive hospital visits or life-saving medications like insulin. Meanwhile, health insurance companies and private hospitals are making record profits.

Pass the Medicare For All Act of 2019

The Medicare for All Act of 2019 is the only healthcare policy that puts patients at the center, not company profits. It expands our current Medicare system — a hugely popular program — to everyone, and broadens its benefits, recognizing that healthcare is more than just a yearly physical or an emergency visit to the doctor: it’s vision care, mental health services, long-term care, and dental services.

By stabilizing the way that hospitals would receive payment for services, it would ensure that rural Americans aren’t threatened by more closures, and it would make doctors and nurses happier too: allowing them to spend more time caring for their patients, and less time in front of a computer screen as they fill out complicated claims for different insurance companies. Medicare for All would give people the freedom to see the doctor that they want without worrying about in-network or out-of-network, and the freedom to search for a new job without the fear of losing their family’s access to healthcare.

We know that our current health system doesn’t work, and yet we’re paying more per person than any other developed nation. A universal system — like almost every other developed country has — will bring down costs and ensure that everyone has the mental and physical healthcare that they need.

Affirm the Rights of the Disabled

Our healthcare system has frequently forgotten or marginalized people with disabilities, placing them in institutions or nursing homes, and forcing them to contend with impossible restrictions that stop them from getting the healthcare they deserve.

I support the Medicare for All of 2019 bill and the Disability Integration Act of 2019 for their commitment to funding community-based care solutions and ensuring affordable, accessible, and integrated housing for people with disabilities who might otherwise be placed in institutions.

I believe in a society that does not judge the value of a person based on how much profit they can produce for the rich, but values their existence as human beings and ensures that everyone’s needs are met.

The Right to Abortion

Abortion care is essential to a person’s health and ensuring equal rights for people of all genders, and barriers to reproductive services disproportionately harm low-income folks, jeopardizing their health and well-being. I support repealing the Hyde Amendment and ensuring all people receive the care they need.

Health Is More than Healthcare

I believe that healthcare goes beyond regular visits to the doctor. Our health is affected by the communities we live in, our access to safe housing, the availability of healthy food, and the transportation to reach these services. I believe that we must ensure that everyone is cared for and able to live their lives with dignity, and we accomplish this by putting people’s needs above corporate profits.