Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

I Support Universal Health Coverage

My mother went back to school to become a nurse, and I've seen up close how much good we can do in Maine when we expand healthcare coverage. I support universal access to affordable healthcare for all Americans including acute, chronic, preventative, and long-term care. The Affordable Care Act is an important first step toward universal coverage, but it needs to be improved to expand coverage to all people and simplify the process for signing up.

Protecting Patients and Ending the Repeal Debate

Republican Susan Collins voted against the Affordable Care Act and continues to call for full repeal of the law years after it became law -- without offering a replacement solution. We should keep the Affordable Care Act's patient protections in place and simplify the process for signing up for coverage. Every American eligible for health coverage should be able to obtain it simply and affordably. Going back to the days before the Affordable Care Act, as Susan Collins demands we do, would move us backward instead of getting us closer to universal access.

Expanding Medicare and Medicaid

One way to expand healthcare access is to strengthen and expand Medicare and Medicaid in a fiscally responsible way. The federal government should be negotiating drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies, which would reduce costs for patients and save us billions of taxpayer dollars a year that now pad Big Pharma's bottom line. As the Bangor Daily News wrote in a 2013 editorial, "[I]n 2003 Congress prohibited Medicare from negotiating drug prices. So unlike comparable programs, this huge market has never been subjected to hard bargaining. Consequently, Medicare pays more for pharmaceuticals than any large purchaser. It's time to change that." I completely agree, and it's time Maine had a Senator who took proactive steps to make it happen.

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