U.S. House of RepresentativesCandidate for District 4

I am a supporter of H.R. 676 and single-payer healthcare through Medicare expansion for all. I hope to work on the passage of a sound healthcare bill that covers all services. We will use Medicare’s bargaining power to negotiate with the prescription drug companies for FAIR and LOWER prices, we will set fair prices for pharmaceuticals. Negotiating prices is currently illegal – so we must fight to Prohibit anti-competitive deals that prevent generic drug makers to compete with brands; keeping drug prices high. Lastly, push for transparency by requiring companies to report not only the price information profit, and sales information for other countries in which the drug is sold so we can make informed consumer decisions.

To have true quality healthcare, we must address the physician shortage that have been purposely created through direct special interest lobbying. Few taxpayers know that significant financial public support for resident training of the nation's future physicians. Perhaps even fewer people realize that two federal programs—Medicare and Medicaid—distribute an estimated $12 to 14 billion each year to support teaching hospitals and other training sites that provide graduate medical education (GME).  In 1997, Congress put a 100,000 cap on the number of residents it was willing to fund. This cap has been one of the reasons that the we are facing a physician shortage. Furthermore, those who go through these federally funded programs are under zero obligation to accept Medicare or Medicaid patients when they enter practice, nor are they required to provide any other types of services to these programs! I would remove the 1996 caps on resident programs and expand the GME. 

I support and favor passage of an immigration reform package that commits the resources needed to update and restructure our current guest worker and visa system, provides legalization outline for individuals who are already here – inclusive of our DREAMers who arrived in the U.S. as young children. I believe that the way to solve our immigration problems now, is to address the one we have right before us: An estimated 11.4 million undocumented immigrants are living in the shadows, and by better estimates close to 1 million visa holders are living with uncertainty. These two groups have something in common, no realistic path to citizenship. 

The time to fix this antiquated system is long overdue.

If immigrants have to abide by U.S. law, then they should be allowed the opportunity to due process rights and impartiality must be paramount in immigration courts. These courts are deciding the fate of undocumented immigrants and refugees;yet, they are not part of the Judiciary branch. The current immigration court system falls under the Executive branch, under the Department of Justice, or more directly, US Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. 

I support the end of USICE raids and the incarceration of undocumented immigrants and refugees in private-for-profit detention centers. I support the elimination of USICE requirement for the 34,000 detention beds and it also calls to PROHIBIT inhumane immigration and deportation practices of separating families of non-criminal immigrants being detained.