Initiatives that serve as the foundation of my approach to Healthcare:

• Expand Medicare and Medicaid Programs: Medicare and Medicaid should be expanded to cover and serve more individuals. In order to reduce the number of uninsured and underinsured people, there needs to be a range of offerings through the Affordable Care Act. In an attempt to advance equity in healthcare, it is vital to focus on reducing racial and gender disparities in research and treatments available.

• Arrest Healthcare costs for consumers by working to keep all aspects of healthcare affordable: Healthcare costs should be limited by working to health insurance, premiums, copays, and deductibles affordable. There will be a call to bring pharmaceutical costs in line with those of other industrialized nations.

• Strengthen healthcare safety nets through continued support and growth of federally qualified community health centers.

• Expand access to health care for rural communities by offering more in-home and tele-health services. Access will also be expanded through enhancing paratransit and transit for those who cannot readily get to clinic or hospital appointments.

• Through appropriate federal legislation, reinstate Roe v. Wade protections and make reproductive health opportunities widely available.

• Strengthen public health functions at national and local levels. There will be an emphasis on emergency preparedness relating to natural and environmental disasters and opportunist infections. Agencies should have staff dedicated to providing education and outreach to encourage cancer prevention, healthy lifestyles, and management of chronic diseases.

• Address shortages of healthcare professionals. Working with professional organizations, colleges, and universities to remedy challenges imposed by costs of education and lack of diversity in the healthcare workforce. Premature retirements will be addressed for individuals who burn out due to shortages of staff and resources.