Health Care for All
As a trained psychiatric social worker and founder of a community mental health center, I saw first-hand the negative impact public policies and social determinants can have on one’s health and mental health, and the outsized disparities in health and mental health access for people of color.
I knew then what I know now: that healthcare — medical, mental, and reproductive — is a human right.
And let me be clear. The way to guarantee health care for everyone in a way that is affordable for the nation is a single payer system.
Barbara Lee
It is past time for the United States to join every other major country on earth and guarantee healthcare to its citizens. Even for people with insurance, costs are so high that medical bills are the number one cause of bankruptcy in our country. Big Pharma and private insurance giants have spent billions of dollars lobbying Congress to ensure their profits come before the health of the American people.
There is a cure — a popular one that guarantees healthcare to every person as a human right and puts people over profits. That cure is Medicare for All — everyone in, nobody out.
As a Senator, I will push to require that we negotiate the cost of every drug that is sold – ALL of them, not just a few – and that we make those lower prices available to all consumers, whether they are insured through a government program or not.
From my Oakland community mental health center to the House floor, I’ve been at the forefront of the fight for universal, comprehensive, and culturally competent healthcare. I will not stop working to deliver quality, affordable health care to every person in this country, regardless of income, race, or gender.
Medicare For All
- I am a longtime advocate for single-payer healthcare, before it was popular — co-sponsoring every piece of Medicare for All legislation since 2003, and before that, co-authoring one of California’s first single-payer healthcare bills in the State Legislature.
- I’m the only candidate in the race who is a member of the Medicare for All caucus, and I will establish a sister caucus in the Senate to deliver the affordable, accessible healthcare that Americans deserve.
Equitable Healthcare
- To reduce health disparities for communities of color, I led the charge on the Health Equity and Accountability Act, and was the only candidate who worked on the Anti-Racism in Public Health Act.
- I will fight for women’s healthcare, increasing access to the full range of reproductive health care and enacting a federal right to abortion care.
- Drawing from my background in psychiatric social work, I will advocate for mental health resources for communities across California.
- I will work to expand diversity in the healthcare workforce, implementing federally-funded pathways for students from historically underserved communities to become doctors and health care professionals, ensuring equity in opportunity and necessary perspective in shaping the practice of healthcare.
Lowering Prescription Drug Prices
- I stood shoulder to shoulder with the Biden Administration’s effort to finally allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. As Senator, I will fight to continue lowering the cost of prescription drugs, taking on the greed and price gouging of Big Pharma.