Issue Position: Josh on: Health Care

Issue Position

Passing Medicaid expansion was a huge win for Virginians, and long overdue. But with Republicans tacking on work requirements, the access to healthcare we should all have is being curtailed by those looking to play politics with our lives. I will fight to remove the work requirement and work to drive down perscription medication costs because no one should ever have to choose between spending money on medication or spending it on groceries. Virginia can, and must, do better.

When 837,137 Virginia residents or 12.2% of the adult population suffer from diabetes, one of my first orders of business, if elected, will be to introduce legislation that places a cap on insulin co-payments for insured residents at $100.00 a month or less.

In addition, we must move to ban the practice of "balanced billing" across the Commonwealth. This is a common phenomenon whereby an individual goes to a hospital inside their insurance network but is hit by a surprise bill afterward because the staff working at the hospital are "out of network". Currently, the state of California is moving to end these surprise emergency room bills and would bar its residents from pursuing charges beyond a patient's regular copayments and deductible, even if a hospital was "out of network" with a patient's health insurance. Virginia should follow California's lead and enact protections for citizens here in the Commonwealth.

But improving our healthcare system should not end there. In a state with such a large active and retired military population, especially here in the 28th district, it's essential that we dedicate more time and resources to improving the systems we have in place to care for our veterans. Long wait times, uncovered care, and unkempt facilities are not how we show our respect for those who have given so much for all of us.

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