Guarantee Healthcare to All

The American healthcare system is broken. 68,000 Americans die each year due to a lack of health insurance. 85 million are uninsured or underinsured, with 500,000 Americans going into medical debt and 18 million unable to fulfill their medical prescriptions each year. U.S. life expectancy is now lower than it was 20 years ago. When healthcare spending per capita has increased twelve-fold since 1960, are we twelve-times healthier?

Today’s healthcare system treats symptoms of illness at the expense of curing their cause. We face a devastating pandemic – not of COVID-19, but of chronic disease. Autoimmunity, allergies, diabetes, obesity, addiction, anxiety, and depression – once, rarities of our past – now afflict nearly two-thirds of Americans. We need a fundamental re-evaluation of our chemical, food, and ecologic policies in this country to lower costs and foster public health. All Americans also deserve the peace of mind that, if an illness strikes or an accident occurs, you can get the care you need without going homeless after paying the bill. People shouldn’t have to choose between putting food on the table for their kids or whether they can afford life-saving medication to stay alive. The amount of uninsured people in America who live day-to-day in fear of an injury they can’t afford is a downright disgrace.

The question isn’t how we can afford to pay for universal access to healthcare coverage; but rather how can we afford not to? We must:

slash skyrocketing prescription drug costs
expand paid family and medical leave
pass a public option healthcare plan outlined in the Medicare for America Act of 2019 to guarantee everyday Americans quality, affordable, and universal access to healthcare so that no American needs to gamble their savings to save their life.

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Slash Prescription Drug Costs

Medicine costs are out of control. At this moment, the power in our healthcare industry rests in the hands of a few giant conglomerates. Healthcare monopolies are buying up independent doctor’s offices, laying off nursing staff, and colluding to immorally jack up the price of life-saving drugs like insulin. Ironically, the creator of insulin sold his patent for $1 to ensure it was universally accessible by all. In 2023, one vial of insulin costs nearly $100 – forcing uninsured diabetics to ration their medicine, often resulting in death. It is a moral outrage with a real human cost for drug companies to price-gouge everyday Americans when many of our tax dollars subsidize the very research they do to create these drugs. Today, most Americans are one medical crisis away from a lifetime of debt and despair – and we deserve better. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 was a historic investment in our nation’s seniors. Now we must build on that progress for all Americans. Let’s:

Fight for health insurance for the lowest-income Americans in every state by incentivizing states to enact Medicaid Expansion.
Defend the Affordable Care Act from partisan attacks.
Bring down out-of-pocket costs like copays and deductibles.
Increase the annual Branded Prescription Drug Fee.
Cut regulations that may slow the approval of cheaper generics.
Increase funding for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure the agency can guarantee the quality and safety of drugs.
Permit drug importation from Canada.
Incentivize American pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Penalize big pharma companies that needlessly hike prescription drug prices while marketing long-standing, life-saving treatments and face little or no competition.
Enable the federal government to engage in price negotiations for Medicare and Medicaid with drug manufacturers.
Expand the $35 cap on insulin prices to all Americans.

Tackle the Opioid Crisis

115 Americans die every day from opioid overdose. Thousands more struggle with addiction, and the mental and behavioral side-effects these drugs entail. The opioid crisis is a public health emergency that has devastated communities across America. With over 47% of opiate addicts being under the age of 35 – America’s next generation is struggling. We must address the root causes of this crisis, from economic insecurity and social isolation to creating supportive and healthy communities where individuals can responsibly thrive with health. That means:

Declaring the Opioid Crisis as a national state of emergency.
Quintupling federal funding directed towards addiction treatment and rehabilitation for addictive opiates at the local level.
Limiting the importation of heroin and fentanyl, especially through the Southern Border.
Regulating pharmaceutical company marketing tactics as much as the FDA regulates the release of new drugs.
Encouraging all opioid prescriptions to be made from hospitals rather than individual offices and medical practices.
Only allowing doctors with specialized training and education in pain management to prescribe higher doses of opioids.
Requiring individuals with Opioid prescriptions to follow-up with the same doctor.
Reforming general orders mandating that prescribers duly investigate the need for a new prescription.
All first responders should have access to naloxone, a drug that can prevent opioid overdoses from becoming fatal.
Taxing opiate manufacturers retroactively to 2005 to further fund treatment and rehabilitation because drug companies deserve to pay to treat the pain they have profited from.

Reimagine Public Health

More Americans than ever before in history are being diagnosed with chronic illnesses and enduring the stigma of disabilities. We must move from a sick-care system to a wellness society. It’s time we:

Commit to preventing, effectively treating, and making a cure possible for Alzheimer’s disease by 2030.
Expand air, water, and food quality requirements.
Adequately fund early childhood autism intervention and treatment.
Ensure all hospitals & public transit are ADA-compliant.
De-stigmatize marginalized low-cost alternatives & holistic care.
Treat gun violence as a public health crisis.
Increase funding & research to achieve an HIV & AIDS-free generation.