Healthcare and Paid Leave
Healthcare is a right
Healthcare is a right that must be fought for. It is crucial to have a constitutional amendment guaranteeing healthcare for all citizens. Medicare For All is the only sensible solution to inflating healthcare costs, a lack of healthcare access, and a shortage of medical professionals.
Bringing down the cost of healthcare
We spend an inordinate amount of money on healthcare and it is not making us any healthier. Costs continue to rise due to a lack of competition and excessive lobbying efforts from pharmaceutical and insurance companies. While I fight for universal healthcare, I will introduce legislation to fight monopolization of the healthcare industry, reduce medication costs, and restrict pharmaceutical advertising.
Improving access to health insurance and routine healthcare will help keep costs down and combat medical worker burnout. The current cost of Medicare continues to rise since it exclusively covers an aging and more acute population; by expanding to all Americans, the spending per individual will go down.
To combat burnout and understaffing amongst medical professionals, we must provide grants, restore funding to national science and research institutions, and expand the number of institutions that provide medical training.
Leave, leisure, and a living wage
I will also work to ensure all full time workers have access to paid leave. Taking time off from work while sick or to care for a new child must be guaranteed and paid.
Everyone should be paid a living wage. Workers need leisure time too! If you’re working full time, you shouldn’t need food stamps. We need employers and Corporate America to realize that well-rested employees lead to lower burnout, and higher retention and productivity.
I will fight for the regulation of working hours for salaried employees to ensure work-life balance. We must stop praising companies for reducing headcount with AI! I will fight for subsidies and incentive programs for businesses that provide additional benefits for their employees (e.g. offering a flexible work week, additional time off, hybrid work).