Health Care Priorities for Illinois’ 15th Congressional District (While We Work Toward Single-Payer Healthcare)
Single-payer healthcare is the goal, and I will continue fighting for it. But families in Central and Eastern Illinois need relief now. Until we achieve universal coverage, we must strengthen existing programs, protect rural healthcare, and lower costs for working families.
1. Protect and Expand Affordable Coverage for Working Families
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- Many families in IL-15—including farm families, the self-employed, and small business workers—rely on Affordable Care Act plans.
- Policy solution: Make ACA premium tax credits permanent to prevent sudden premium spikes.
- Repealing the ACA would eliminate protections for preexisting conditions and preventive care.
- Policy solution: Permanently protect coverage for preexisting conditions, preventive care, and young adults on family plans.
- Seasonal, agricultural, and service workers still face coverage gaps.
- Policy solution: Close remaining gaps while continuing to build toward a universal healthcare system.
- Many families in IL-15—including farm families, the self-employed, and small business workers—rely on Affordable Care Act plans.
2. Keep Rural Hospitals and Clinics Open
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- Rural hospitals are often the only emergency care within dozens of miles, and closures threaten both lives and local economies.
- Policy solution: Increase rural hospital stabilization funding and protect reimbursement rates.
- Provider shortages force residents to travel long distances for basic and mental healthcare.
- Policy solution: Expand loan forgiveness, training, and retention incentives for healthcare workers serving rural Illinois.
- Community health centers and mobile clinics are critical access points for seniors, veterans, and low-income families.
- Policy solution: Increase federal investment in rural community health centers and mobile clinics.
- Rural hospitals are often the only emergency care within dozens of miles, and closures threaten both lives and local economies.
3. Lower Prescription Drug Costs
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- High drug prices force many seniors and families to ration or skip medications.
- Policy solution: Expand Medicare’s authority to negotiate drug prices and apply savings to more medications.
- Insulin and other essential drugs remain unaffordable for many working families.
- Policy solution: Extend the $35 insulin cap to everyone, regardless of age or insurance status.
- Drug company loopholes and opaque middlemen keep prices artificially high.
- Policy solution: Crack down on patent abuse and require transparency from pharmacy benefit managers.
- High drug prices force many seniors and families to ration or skip medications.
4. Strengthen Medicare and Long-Term Care
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- Seniors in IL-15 depend on Medicare for routine care and prescriptions.
- Policy solution: Protect Medicare’s negotiating power and cap out-of-pocket costs.
- Nursing homes and long-term care facilities face staffing shortages that affect care quality.
- Policy solution: Set strong staffing standards and raise wages to improve recruitment and retention.
- Many seniors want to age at home but lack support.
- Policy solution: Expand home- and community-based services so families aren’t forced out of the workforce.
- Seniors in IL-15 depend on Medicare for routine care and prescriptions.
5. End Medical Debt and Surprise Billing
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- Medical debt hits rural families hard and threatens financial stability.
- Policy solution: Permanently remove medical debt from credit reports and expand debt forgiveness.
- Surprise bills—especially ambulance bills—still leave families vulnerable.
- Policy solution: Extend no-surprise-billing protections to ground ambulance services.
- Healthcare consolidation raises prices and reduces access in rural areas.
- Policy solution: Enforce antitrust laws to block mergers that harm competition and care.
- Medical debt hits rural families hard and threatens financial stability.
Bottom Line
Until we reach single-payer healthcare, we must protect coverage, keep rural providers open, and lower costs for families who can’t wait. These reforms save lives now—and lay the groundwork for a fair, universal system in the future.