How the 7 healthcare workers who just got elected to Congress plan to fix our broken system
They’re hoping to help some of their new colleagues, who may not have those same experiences and may be prone to thinking of policy issues in abstract terms, understand the urgency and the human toll of our messed-up medical system.
Key points
- Like many Democrats, these candidates campaigned on lowering costs, expanding health coverage, and confronting the drugmakers and healthcare corporations that they accuse of putting profits ahead of patients.
- He has seen all the ways US health care is lacking: children who don’t get the mental health support they need to excel in school, families that struggle to afford stable housing or find healthy food.
- But I spoke with Pan and Shah this week to learn how they hope to influence the healthcare conversation in Washington going forward.
Shah, who previously served in the Arizona legislature, told me that he believed his medical career had given him a valuable outlook for thinking about how to serve in political office.
Additional details
- They have endorsed big ideas to make healthcare better, from a public insurance option to Medicare-for-all, alongside targeted changes to drug prices and health insurance denials.
- | Andrew Harnik/Getty Images Last week’s blue tsunami carried a lot of white coats: At least seven newly elected Democrats have medical degrees or nursing careers.
- “The same should really be true about politics.” He’s experienced the shocking inequities of US healthcare, and seen its impact on people’s well-being, firsthand.
- “It’s a tragedy that those of us who actually go out to help others and be part of the team that saves lives can be left without insurance,” Shah said.
- And as lawmakers try to come up with solutions to fix those problems, they’ll be there to make sure those policies actually make sense in practice.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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