Issue Position: Healthcare
Issue Position
I believe everyone deserves access to quality, affordable healthcare. I have worked for the last 20 years as the Executive Director of the Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition to make that a reality, and get results.
* In 1997-1998, I actually helped design and write the legislation that created the State of Illinois' KidCare program and pave the way for Illinois to expand healthcare to 1.4 million children.
* I will work to implement national healthcare reform at the state level, working with legislators, administrators and regulators to ensure Illinois' healthcare exchange achieves results.
Since 2001, I have served on the Medicaid Advisory Committee for the State, working to ensure that program https://twitter.com/robyngabeloperates more effectively. I also led efforts to give 500,000 adults better access to dental care. In 2005, I worked hard to pass the All Kids program, which made Illinois the first state in the country to give every child access to quality, affordable healthcare. There are now over 2.2 million children and their parents enrolled in All Kids and FamilyCare.
Improving our healthcare is not simply an issue for me, it is a life's calling. We have had great success here in Illinois, but I believe there is much more work to do.
My Plan:
* We must continue the fight to provide access to quality, affordable healthcare for all Illinoisans.
* I will work to reduce healthcare costs for all by eliminating waste, reducing cost-shifting to the insured, and making insurance companies prioritize people over profits.
* I will continue to push for the statewide adoption of Electronic Medical Records, which ensure hospitals have quicker access to patient information, lowering healthcare costs, improving care, and saving lives.
* I will work to pass new health insurance consumer protections that will provide people with health insurance a resource to get a fair appeal on claims denials, shorter and easier applications and claims forms, and better information on how health insurers spend the premiums they collect.
* I will continue my fight for women's and children's health, and work to reduce our still-too-high rate of infant mortality.
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