|
|
John, can I share a quick story with you?
Back when I was a California state senator — before the Affordable Care Act — patients were even more subject to the whims of their insurance companies.
The insurance companies could deny the medical care that patients needed, leaving them to decide whether to assume astronomical health care costs themselves or forgo the care their doctors had deemed medically necessary.
During this time, I had a conversation with a woman whose husband had been diagnosed with cancer. Although the couple was aware of a treatment that was showing promise in curing his specific cancer, their health insurance company was unwilling to cover the treatment and would only offer palliative care. The insurance company felt that the treatment was not medically necessary, a conclusion that is far easier to reach when you are not the one dying. It took an intervention by my office to convince the HMO otherwise and get him the life-saving care he needed.
We had to put a stop to this practice. So I authored a California patient bill of rights to provide patients recourse when their health insurers denied them the care they needed.
That bill passed the state legislature and was signed into law. It’s still the law today.
In the time since, I’ve worked to secure millions in federal funding to improve and expand health care across my district — from telehealth services to mental health, to upgraded facilities, and investments for first responder services assisting with mental health and substance abuse care.
I worked to help pass the Inflation Reduction Act to cap the cost of expensive prescription drugs to $35 per month for seniors on Medicare.
But there’s still work to do. We need to expand Medi-Cal to cover low-income children and families, expecting mothers, and people with disabilities to provide free or low-cost quality health care.
We have a maternal mortality crisis in this country that’s been exacerbated by the Dobbs decision striking down Roe v. Wade and draconian abortion bans at the state level.
We need to codify Roe. Protect abortion access. Ensure access to contraception and reproductive health care. And ultimately, we need to pass universal health care.
| ADD YOUR NAME |
From the patient bill of rights we passed all those years ago, to the Affordable Care Act, to the Inflation Reduction Act, and our current fight for universal health care, this has been central to my service.
I won’t give up until everyone in this country, no matter what their income, can visit a doctor and receive the medical care they need when they need it.
That’s what I’m fighting for.
— Adam
|
