Health Care is a Right

It starts with a basic premise: health care is a right, not a privilege. In a country as great as the United States, we shouldn’t allow the most vulnerable among us to suffer in return for tax cuts for the wealthy. But unfortunately, that’s exactly what the GOP health care bill does.

Across 142 pages, the GOP bill makes a few actions very clear: it strips away patient protections, imposes cruel cutbacks to Medicaid, and lowers taxes for the most wealthy among us. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, this bill takes away health insurance from over 20 MILLION people. And among those harmed by it, it especially hurts those who need care the most.

As President Trump said, the bill is just plain “mean”.

With cold-blooded cuts to Medicaid, the effects will be disproportionately bad for the elderly and disabled. They’re so steep, it could force over a million people out of nursing homes, where they receive the care they need.

But it’s not just the elderly or disabled who are hurt by this bill. It also allows insurers to not cover essential health benefits like maternity care or mental health treatment. Can you imagine: paying for health insurance every month and not being able to use it when you have your first child?

Moreover, at a time when communities around our district and the country face a dangerous opioid epidemic, experts are saying that “the health care bill is more likely to make the opioid crisis worse, rather than better.”

I could go on and on about all of the damage this bill will do, but the takeaway is clear: at a time when we should be bolstering health care, Republicans are tearing it away.

My opponent, Dan Lipinski, was one of the few Democrats to vote against the Affordable Care Act. He’s made it very clear that he has no interest in improving the affordability and quality of health care for the working families of the third district. On the other hand, it’s one of my signature issues.

We’re at a time where the majority of Americans believe in universal health care. Well, I’m on their side. In Congress, I will proudly cosponsor a bill extending Medicare for All. Why? Because without a doubt, I believe that health care is a right.