Health care is a human right, and every single American deserves access to quality, affordable health care –– now and always. Since day one, I have been committed to strengthening and expanding the Affordable Care Act to improve coverage for all Americans. One of my first priorities in Congress was to introduce legislation to finally make employer-provided insurance work for families by closing the Family Glitch loophole that kept many families from being able to get affordable coverage for spouses and dependents. I will keep working to lower the cost of care, increasing mental health services accessibility, and protecting reproductive health care.

Here are my priorities:

● Make life saving prescription drugs affordable.  I’m proud to be a leading voice in Congress on lowering the cost of prescription drugs, and I’ve kept my pledge to never take a cent from Big Pharma. I fought for and won critical changes to the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement to ensure that patients were protected from higher prices. I successfully capped the price of insulin to $35 per month for senior citizens and Medicare recipients, and put enough pressure on drug companies that they limited the price of inhalers to $35 per month as well. One of my proudest days in office was voting yes on the Lower Drug Costs Now Act which finally gave Medicare the ability to negotiate drug prices for 10 major pharmaceuticals. In the next Congress, I look forward to expanding this provision to more prescription drugs, and making those lower prices available to all Americans, not just those on Medicare.

● Take bold action to fight and treat the opioid crisis. At every level and from every angle, it is critical that we build a culture of compassion and treatment around the opioid epidemic. I am proud to be an active member of the House Bipartisan Addiction & Mental Health Task Force. Addressing and solving this crisis requires (1) recognizing that drug abuse is a medical problem, not a criminal one; and (2) proactively providing communities with the resources they need to effectively combat it. I am proud to have worked with my Republican colleagues across the aisle to offer bipartisan support to those suffering from opioid addiction. Our communities have seen firsthand the devastation of the opioid crisis, and we must continue to provide federal support for an epidemic with such widespread effects. Additionally, I will vote to pass the monumental bipartisan border legislation that was tanked in the current Congress by far-right extremists to help secure our border and stop illegal immigration and drugs from pouring into the country.

● Bring mental health care out of the shadows. No one should ever have to experience the heartbreak that it is to lose a family member or friend to their mental health battle. When suicide touched my family a few years ago, I made advocating for accessible and affordable mental health care one of my top priorities. I’ve introduced legislation to address suicide on college campuses and make mental health care easier for families to access. My bill to provide mental health screenings for senior citizens was signed into law as part of the Older Americans Act. I also worked hard to get my bill, the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, which would improve mental health care and support the health care heroes who saw the worst of the pandemic, signed into law. I will never stop fighting to expand access to lifesaving services.

In the wealthiest nation on earth, no citizen should have to risk bankruptcy, take on a second job to cover health care costs, or make the agonizing choice between putting food on the table or getting care for themselves and their families. My work in Congress is guided by that ironclad belief every single day.