Medicare for All.
Ensuring that we achieve universal health care in this country is Julie's top priority. Every single American should have high-quality healthcare, be able to see a doctor, and be able to afford prescriptions--no matter if they’re rich or poor, young or old, or have pre-existing conditions or not. It's Julie's own experience as a teenage runaway relying on Medicaid for prenatal care, her experience fighting for healthcare for underserved communities, as well as her son's status as a "walking pre-existing condition" that have informed her stance. That's why Julie is fighting for Medicare for All.
You can count on Julie to fight for a healthcare system that works for all Americans more than any other candidate, because she doesn’t accept money from Pharmaceutical lobbyists, private insurance companies, or special interests. In fact, Julie doesn't take a single dime from any PAC.
We know that a single-payer system will save lives, and we know that it is logical and responsible -- much more than our current system, under which millions of our fellow human beings are unable to get the care they need, and which still costs the most, and produces the worst outcomes. Yet while insurance premiums, co-pays, and deductibles (and with them, the amount of people unable to see a doctor or afford their prescriptions) continue to increase, and while medical GoFundMe’s become the norm, those in power have stymied any efforts at achieving universal healthcare.
Medicare for All takes the massively popular, wildly successful health care plan that LBJ, Democrat of Texas, signed into law in 1965, and expands it for all Americans. It means that more of our fellow human beings can be well and get the care they need -- and it will have a transformative effect on the American economy.
By allowing every American to seek preventive care, we avoid unnecessary and preventable hospital visits. Guaranteed universal healthcare reduces the administrative fees that all of us subsidize in the massively wasteful corporate healthcare business in America. And we alleviate the strain on Texas' rural hospitals -- meaning they no longer have to seek reimbursements, deal with denials, uncompensated care, or fight with bloated claims departments dealing with 10 different payers.
Universal healthcare means an increase in productivity across the American workforce because when people are well, they can live and work to their full potential. And Medicare for All is the logical step for entrepreneurs -- bringing the freedom that comes with separating insurance from employment. When providing insurance is no longer a barrier to starting your own business, it no longer keeps you from chasing your version of the American dream.
Ultimately, and most importantly, ensuring that every one of our fellow human beings is able to seek the care they need is the moral choice we face as a country. Millions are uninsured or under-insured. One in four Americans skip medical treatment due to the cost of care. One in five Americans can’t afford the medicine they need. And the United States still spends twice as much per capita on health care than any other country. Medicare for All is a moral and economic necessity.
In Congress, Julie will:
- 1. Pass Medicare for All with the Medicare for All Act of 2019 (HR 1384).
- 2. Support and safeguard women’s health and a woman’s right to choose. Repeal the Hyde Amendment, and ensure that all women are ensured equal access to reproductive health care, birth control and other preventive care.
- 3. Combat the maternal mortality crisis disproportionately affecting black women and women of color by addressing systemic racism in healthcare, and holding health care systems accountable for preventable lapses in care.
- 4. Allow Medicare to negotiate the cost of prescriptions with the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2019 (H.R.275).
- 5. Fight against VA privatization and ensure that veterans can get their disability claims met in a more timely fashion.
- 6. Leverage federal programs to incentivize more doctors and medical professionals to work in underserved communities and in rural Texas.
- 7. Ensure our system provides robust supports for elderly Texans.
- 8. Fund critical mental health services throughout Texas so that Texans have their needs addressed by the health care system, not the criminal justice system.
- 9. Support the healthcare workforce by expanding debt forgiveness for nurses, doctors, and dentists who practice in rural Texas.
- 10. Ensure that in-home caregivers are supported by expanding coverage for home and community-based long-term and custodial care.
Julie’s Record:
- 1. Appointed to Central Health -- whose mission is delivering healthcare to indigent Texans and underserved communities -- by Austin City Council.
- 2. Organized a community effort with hundreds of demonstrators to reverse the Central Health vote to kill Sendero -- a non-profit healthcare exchange product 14,000 low-income Travis County residents rely on. The vote was successfuly reversed, and funding for this life-saving healthcare option continues for the commumity.
- 3. Fought for greater transparency and accountability on the board of Central Health.
- 4. Featured speaker at the launch of Healthy Texas, an initiative to bring Medicare for All to rural Texas.