Americans want quality healthcare at an affordable price. In Congress, I will work to support our rural hospitals, protect those with pre-existing conditions and find solutions to lowering the cost of healthcare for all Americans.
As a mother, I cannot imagine the pain and stress that would come with not being able to afford quality healthcare for my family. I will utilize my experience working in my community to help support programs that make cost-effective health care more available to Illinois families and will help cultivate public-private partnerships to plant deeper roots.
Lowering the price of prescription drugs is a necessity for a strong and vibrant community. I will support capping the cost of life-saving drugs such as insulin and will work with the medical, insurance, and research communities to find cost-effective solutions without interrupting continuity or decreasing the quality of care.
There are a number of Federally Qualified Health Care centers in my district, including two in my hometown of Decatur alone. I will work with these on-the-ground organizations to ensure our federal support is being maximized and directed in the most effective ways.
Our district also has many rural communities where access to quality doctors and care can mean life or death. I will support programs to encourage doctors to open up shop in these communities and support telehealth services to reduce the lack of care due to transportation issues. I will especially focus on bringing more access to mental health services to our farming communities where suicide rates are alarmingly high.
Finally, as a science educator, I understand the great value of encouraging our youth, especially young women, to go into science and research fields to strengthen Illinois’ healthcare workforce.
As we have seen in the rising health costs of health insurance resulting from the Affordable Care Act, a government takeover of health care is not in the best interest of the American people. I will fight to keep an independent health care system that allows Americans to keep world-class doctors and quality of care at a price we can afford.