Achieve Universal Health Care

The American healthcare system is broken. 45,000 Americans die each year due to a lack of health insurance. 85 million are uninsured or underinsured, with 500,000 Americans going into medical debt and 18 million unable to fulfill their medical prescriptions each year. U.S. life expectancy is now lower than it was 20 years ago. When healthcare spending per capita has increased twelve-fold since 1960, are we twelve-times healthier?

Today’s healthcare system treats symptoms of illness at the expense of curing their cause. We face a devastating pandemic – not of COVID-19, but of chronic disease. Autoimmunity, allergies, diabetes, obesity, addiction, anxiety, and depression – once, rarities of our past – now afflict nearly two-thirds of Americans. All Americans also deserve the peace of mind that, if an illness strikes or an accident occurs, you can get the care you need without going homeless after paying the bill. People shouldn’t have to choose between putting food on the table for their kids or whether they can afford life-saving medication to stay alive. The amount of uninsured people in America who live day-to-day in fear of an injury they can’t afford is a downright disgrace.

While the far-right wants to increase health care costs and take away health care protections for nearly every American – our generation believes healthcare is a right, not a privilege. We must:

protect the Affordable Care Act
defend Medicare and Medicaid from partisan attacks
lower premiums
slash skyrocketing prescription drug costs
enact paid family and medical leave
cap the price of insulin and out-of-pocket drug costs for all Americans
move towards a public option as outlined in the Medicare for America Act of 2019 to guarantee everyday Americans universal access to quality, affordable healthcare so that no American needs to gamble their savings to save their life.

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Slash Prescription Drug Costs

Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), we’ve seen real improvements in health care delivery – including free preventive care, Medicaid expansion to millions of working families, eliminating discrimination against pre-existing conditions, ending lifetime limits on care, and allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ plans until age 26.

Unfortunately, medicine costs are still skyrocketing. Today, most Americans are one medical crisis away from a lifetime of debt and despair – and we deserve better. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 was a historic investment in our nation’s seniors. Now we must build on that progress for all Americans and continue the fight for universal access to quality, affordable healthcare. We must:

Defend the Affordable Care Act from partisan attacks.
Bring down out-of-pocket costs like copays and deductibles.
Incentivize states to enact Medicaid Expansion.
Increase the annual Branded Prescription Drug Fee.
Cut regulations that may slow the approval of cheaper generics.
Increase funding for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure the agency can guarantee the quality and safety of drugs.
Permit drug importation from Canada.
Incentivize American pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Penalize big pharma companies that needlessly hike prescription drug prices while marketing long-standing, life-saving treatments and face little or no competition.
Empower Medicare and Medicaid to negotiate with drug companies and lower the cost of expensive prescriptions.
Expand the $35 per month cap on insulin prices & $2,000 per year cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs to all Americans.

Tackle the Opioid Crisis

115 Americans die every day from opioid overdose. Thousands more struggle with addiction, and the mental and behavioral side-effects these drugs entail. The opioid crisis is a public health emergency that has devastated communities across America. With over 47% of opiate addicts being under the age of 35 – America’s next generation is struggling. We must address the root causes of this crisis, from economic insecurity and social isolation to creating supportive and healthy communities where individuals can responsibly thrive with health. That means:

Declaring the Opioid Crisis as a national state of emergency.
Increasing federal funding directed towards addiction treatment and rehabilitation for addictive opiates at the local level.
Limiting the importation of heroin, fentanyl, and other illicit substances – especially through the Southern Border.
Ensuring drug prescribers meet standards for training and go through a prescription drug monitoring program before writing a prescription for controlled medications.
Only allowing doctors with specialized training and education in pain management to prescribe higher doses of opioids.
Requiring individuals with Opioid prescriptions to follow-up with the same doctor who prescribed them the prescription.
Guaranteeing anyone who needs treatment and ongoing support the right to get affordable, quality care.
Empowering communities to implement programs to teach adolescents about drug use and addiction.
All first responders should have access to naloxone, a drug that can prevent opioid overdoses from becoming fatal.

Reimagine Public Health

More Americans than ever before in history are being diagnosed with chronic illnesses and enduring the stigma of disabilities. We must move from a sick-care system to a wellness society. It’s time we:

Commit to making a cure possible for Alzheimer’s disease by 2040.
Strengthen air, water, and food quality requirements.
Adequately fund early childhood autism intervention and treatment.
Ensure all hospitals & public transit are ADA-compliant.
De-stigmatize marginalized low-cost alternatives & holistic care.
Treat gun violence as a public health crisis.
Increase funding & research to achieve an HIV & AIDS-free generation.