Healthcare
Let's build choice, not beaurcracy!
Martin Luther King stated that “…of all forms of injustice, inequality in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”
Alaska is deemed one of the least healthy states in the U.S., with more than 100,000 Alaskans having little or no access to health care or insurance coverage. Many Alaskans declare personal bankruptcy because they can’t pay medical bills.
Unpaid necessary medical care is causing costs to rise for individuals, businesses, municipalities and the state government. As costs rise, more people become uninsured, and the vicious cycle of cost shifting continues to spiral. The result is increasing financial instability of health care providers, and decreasing access to health care for Alaskans.
I believe that it is our government’s responsibility to ensure that all Americans have access to health care. We must come together to solve this national health care crisis.
Once elected I will work cooperatively to ensure all Americans have health care coverage regardless of age, income, job changes, unemployment, retirement, or pre-existing medical conditions. Moving towards an equitable, single-payer based system we can,
- Cut overhead costs through synchronized database and shared medical informaton systems. Lives are literally lost through the mishandling or misplacement of medical records.
- Redirect savings from cutting overhead to direct care of patients.
- Push reasonable cost controls on the industry.
- Make early detection programs "cost free" to those who cannot afford coverage.
- Make coverage affordable while working towards a uniform system.
- Fight to ensure full funding of S-CHIP so that our children are treated properly and timely.
- Be an advocate for all our troops and our veterans and their families, ensuring that all medical expenses are covered. Bill Richardson’s idea of a Heroes Health Card would improve access to health care for Veterans.
- Work to reform Medicaid and Medicare. Ensure that Alaskan doctors can afford to treat elderly patients.
- Push for regulation of the drug industry that will cap the rising costs of medications and ensuring that our seniors and underprivileged citizens receive affordable prescription medications.
- Advocate for legislation that provides for the coverage of mental, addiction, and public health treatment.
Alaskans and all Americans deserve access to adequate, affordable health care. We must ensure our families, veterans and seniors are well cared for to ensure a prosperous and thriving future for our state.
