Issue Position: Healthcare

Issue Position

Healthcare
If health care is not affordable, it is not accessible. I know that firsthand. I grew up for a portion of my childhood without health insurance. I still remember the box of bills that sat on our kitchen table when my little sister had a medical issue. I also spent more than 20 years working in two healthcare manufacturing companies, and at one I oversaw our employer-sponsored health plan.

We must work to repair our healthcare system, starting with immediate fixes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and work toward universal health coverage. It's time to stop playing politics with people's lives.

Many families, particularly those who are self-employed as small business owners and family farmers, cannot afford the healthcare available in the individual marketplace, but Washington has done nothing to help. Congress needs to work across the aisle immediately to stabilize healthcare costs for these families.

We can do this without giving up the good things that have come from the ACA. Current law has eliminated the penalty for pre-existing conditions, ended lifetime limits, allowed young adults to remain on their parent's insurance, and given tens of millions of Americans access to healthcare who didn't have it before.

To stabilize the market place, it's critical that we reauthorize and make permanent a federal reinsurance program that does not shortchange other current programs. We must provide a long-term outlook for cost reduction subsidies. We also must rein in out-of-control costs in the pharmaceutical industry. We can start by making pharma compete by negotiating with Medicare, make medical pricing more transparent, incentivize preventative care, and move away from a fee-for-service healthcare system.

Finally, we need to work towards universal healthcare. There are many specific policy ideas emerging to accomplish this goal and we should consider each as to whether it brings us closer to making sure every family has healthcare they can afford.

The Opioid Epidemic
Our country is confronting one of the largest public health threats since the onset of the AIDS epidemic. The opioid epidemic now claims more lives every year than car accidents or gun violence -- nationwide, over 33,000 people died from opioid or heroin overdoses in 2015 alone.

The Second Congressional District is home to some exceptional local leaders in the fight against this epidemic. The Shakopee Police Department and the Scott County Board have rolled out programs that focus on rehabilitation and recovery rather than punishment and incarceration. Whether it's a new drug court program, treatment center, lifesaving medication for first responders, or critical new research, all these efforts have something in common: they require resources and funding. That's how our leaders in Washington can and should help.

When I'm elected to Congress, I will work to expand the funding allocated in the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA). This bipartisan bill allows the federal government to provide states with grants to fund a variety of programs aimed at curbing prescription opioid and heroin abuse. I also will support the Addiction Recovery for Rural Communities (ARRC) Act, a bill to help rural communities fight the opioid epidemic.

Source