In 2020 the House passed healthcare legislation to facilitate the use of telemedicine as well as strengthen community hospitals and legislation aimed at eliminating racial inequities in maternal health that have resulted in women of color dying of pregnancy-related causes at more than double the rate of white women. We also provided supplemental funding for women’s reproductive health organizations as a result of federal cuts the Title X program, which was included as part of a supplemental state budget. And to address the complex health and wellness needs of the state’s 1.4 million children, the House passed legislation to ensure increased access to services and a more holistic approach to children’s health and wellness supports. 

To build on the progress made by passing our historic healthcare reform law in 2006, I support creating a single payer health insurance system in Massachusetts that guarantees access and is publicly administered to lower the cost of healthcare for both employers and residents – something that is particularly necessary because of the COVID-19 Emergency. The purpose behind single payer health insurance, like the public health insurance option (the so-called “public option”) that was part of the federal healthcare reform debate in 2009 - 2010, is to make more affordable health insurance available people who are either unable to afford the premiums of private health insurers or are rejected by private health insurers because of a pre-existing condition. Such a government administered insurance plan could also pressure private health insurers to lower their premium costs and create more competitive plans with wider coverage. Also, in the likely event of federal cuts to MA Medicaid funding, I support establishing a “Pay or Play” payroll tax on companies that do not provide health coverage to their employees.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, I supported legislation to further strengthen reproductive and gender-affirming health care laws. The bill protects providers of reproductive & gender-affirming care from out-of-state legal action, offers liability protections to providers, declares reproductive & gender-affirming health care a right under MA constitution, and blocks MA licensing boards from disciplining providers of reproductive & gender-affirming care. I also voted for legislation designed to strengthen local and regional public health and ensure that every resident has access to foundational public health services, regardless of where they live, through the Department of Public Health’s (DPH) State Action for Public Health Excellence (SAPHE) program established by the Legislature in 2020. Public health services should be delivered uniformly across the Commonwealth and this bill ensures better oversight to raise healthcare standards in every region and locale.