Providing for the general welfare.

Healthcare takes up one-sixth of our economy but what do we have to show for it? For every example of someone successful in getting their insurance companies to pay for lifesaving treatment, there’s another of someone dying because they couldn’t afford to live after being denied coverage. Or because they’ve been priced out of their medication. 

For years, Brian was one of the millions of people uninsured, and knows first-hand the kinds of sacrifices one has to make, compromising one’s own health, to avoid the price of the alternative. The fact of the matter is, the only thing that got Brian through those uninsured years is luck. The same luck in which millions of people have currently staked their well-being. But luck is not a healthcare plan, and it’s one that no one should be forced to rely on.

Healthcare is too serious of an issue to be handled by such a chaotic system. Expecting people to beg before a faceless process that seemingly makes decisions arbitrarily is beneath the values that we collectively hold. To borrow from our Constitution, it’s certainly no way to “provide for the general welfare.”

With premiums rising and protections continuously being undermined, we are heading for a tipping point. If it comes to a choice between pricing out the insurance gatekeepers or pricing out the people of the San Fernando Valley, Brian will always stand on the side of the people.

The benefits of public goods tend to ripple out. By separating health insurance from employment, people can no longer feel locked out of the American dream by being trapped in a job for fear of losing their healthcare. Likewise, small businesses will no longer be burdened by worrying if they’re providing adequate healthcare for their employees.

The ACA/Obamacare got us part of the way there, but we can never mistake a first step for the end goal. Even supporting a robust plan such as Medicare-for-All only gets us so far. For women, people of color, and/or members of the LGBTQ community, the stakes are even higher, adding in the dangers that come with institutional bias and systematic undermining of basic civil rights. This is why in addition to making sure that a system like Medicare-for-All is implemented, Brian will fight for legislation that protects medical access for the most vulnerable and marginalized. This includes the fight for reproductive justice by strengthening the protections of Roe V. Wade.