A VOICE FOR CHANGE

Healthcare is a Human Right

Data from 2022 show that 5.3% of all Pennsylvanians are without healthcare insurance.  More Pennsylvanians became eligible to receive medical assistance with the expansion of Medicaid. We know that increasing access to health insurance doesn’t always improve a person’s ability to use healthcare services when they need it or when they want to use preventive care. The costs with getting healthcare services are out of reach for many people.
 

In Franklin County 19% of all our children under the age of 19 do not have health insurance. Even more disturbing, considering PA has invested in the CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) since 1992, is that 50% of Franklin County’s children who are financially eligible for CHIP are NOT enrolled.
 

Things are better in Adams County where 5% of all our children under the age of 19 do not have health insurance and 8% of the financially eligible children for CHIP are NOT enrolled.
 

We shouldn’t have to travel 90+ miles away to find the healthcare we need. So many of us travel to Hershey or to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore for treatment. Too many of us do not live close to a hospital that has the capabilities to deliver babies. Too many of us have to travel far to obtain mental healthcare services. Too many of us find ourselves on waiting long waiting lists to see a physician or a specialty care provider. Rural Pennsylvanians like us need healthcare services nearby.
 

I will work to increase the number of Pennsylvanians who can get the healthcare they need.
 

I support:

• Efforts to bring healthcare to all.  

  • I will work with other legislators to create a comprehensive healthcare program for all Pennsylvanians. The plan will be a Pennsylvania-based public healthcare option that consolidates redundant programs and provides an alternative to uninsured Pennsylvanians. 

  • I will work to pass legislation for a healthcare plan that includes comprehensive coverage.

  • I am committed to making sure our rural communities are served by high quality, affordable healthcare providers such as hospital systems and health clinics that provide much needed services for pregnancy and delivery.  

• Efforts to build our healthcare professional workforce.

  • Incentives to bring healthcare workers to our district.

  • Improve educational programs to grow our own healthcare workers. 

• Building public health departments in our counties.

  • Public Health Departments do more than just monitor vaccine rates. Well-run public health programs collect data on important health issues and propose solutions to prevent them or lessen their effects.
     

Healthcare Should be Affordable

The cost of healthcare is crushing many Pennsylvania families in every corner of our Commonwealth. To alleviate costs, the General Assembly must take immediate action for the people of Pennsylvania.
 

I will:

• Introduce legislation in the Senate to reduce the cost of insulin to not more than $35 for a 30-day supply for all of us needing insulin.

• Support bipartisan efforts to make healthcare affordable.

  • Work to reduce the costs associated with seeing a healthcare provider, purchasing needed medications and medical devices, and end of life care.

  • Support SB No. 1288 which provides medical assistance payments for orthotics and prosthetics. 

  • Work to increase investments in juvenile school-based healthcare services.

  • Commit to remove barriers that are keeping families from enrolling their children in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

  • I support federal plans that will let families go three years without having to resubmit Medicaid paperwork for children younger than six.
     

Mental and Behavioral Healthcare

Mental healthcare should be treated with the same importance as all other kinds of healthcare. 
 

I support:

• Appropriate funding levels to provide:

  • Juvenile school-based mental healthcare services.

  • Improved Veterans’ Services at the county-level that will enhance what is provided through the US Department of Veteran Affairs.

  • Walk-in mental healthcare clinics.

  • Substance and alcohol use and addiction services.

  • Training for mental health workers.

  • Wage increases for mental health workers.
     

Defending Choice

I believe healthcare is personal. Whether we’re faced with a life-changing disease or injury, our choices for how we want to direct our healthcare and treatment are our choices alone. We may choose to include our families, friends, and communities in our decisions. Some of us may choose different paths to healing. Each of us, no matter our ability status, has the right to make choices about our healthcare without the government blocking our way. 

I do not support efforts to ban abortion services.

I will work to defend and protect:

• Reproductive healthcare.

  • Choice. Each person has the right to make choices about what happens to their body.

  • Improve access to the full spectrum of reproductive healthcare, including, access to FDA-approved abortion medications.

  • Reduce the maternal mortality rate.

  • Increase funding for maternal and child health services.

• Specialized treatments for infertility.

• Specialized care for people who identify as transgender.
   

Healthcare Safety

Healthcare must be delivered safely. Efforts should be made at recruiting, training, licensing, and educating more hospital and community-based healthcare staff in order to achieve the goal of expanding access and care in Pennsylvania. Staffing shortages are unsafe.

 

These are my top 5 healthcare priorities. To be sure, there are many more and each of us have our own priorities. I commit to you that my door is open to you when it comes to your healthcare priorities. We can and will bring high quality, affordable healthcare to all of us when we work together!

 

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