Health Care

One of my top priorities is ensuring access to high quality, affordable health care for people in Northwest Washington and across the country. Throughout my time in Congress, I have advocated for health care that fits Northwest Washington’s specific needs, including health care that fits working families’ budgets, funding for rural and critical access hospitals and better health services for veterans and Medicare beneficiaries.

In 2022, I voted to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices for the first time in our nation’s history (the Inflation Reduction Act). The first round of negotiated prices took effect in 2026 and is expected to save Medicare beneficiaries $1.5 billion and taxpayers $6 billion. Future negotiated prices are expected to save billions more in medical costs each year going forward.

Accomplishments & Priorities

Medicaid
In Northwest Washington, Medicaid covers roughly 187,000 people, including 81,000 children, and 18,000 seniors. Across the country, Medicaid covers 1 in 5 Americans’ health care – 41% of all births, 61% of long-term care for seniors and 38% of health care for children.

• I voted against the Big Ugly Law, which cuts roughly $1.1 trillion from Medicaid, Medicare, and the ACA – $911 billion of which is from Medicaid – all to pay for a tax break for the richest Americans and biggest corporations.
• I cosponsored legislation to reverse all the health care cuts in the Republicans’ Big Ugly Law – the Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act.
• I introduced legislation to repeal one of the five biggest Medicaid cuts in Big Ugly Law – the Patients Over Paperwork Act.

Affordable Care Act (ACA)
The ACA has helped thousands of families in Washington state who could not previously afford health care. Extending the ACA tax credits is essential for lowering skyrocketing health care costs. In Northwest Washington, expiration of these credits is causing more than 25,000 residents to see their average net annual premiums rise by 60%.

• I voted YES on legislation to extend the ACA tax credits.
• I cosponsored legislation to permanently extend the ACA Enhanced Premium Tax Credits – the Health Care Affordability Act.
• I signed a discharge petition to force a vote on legislation to extend the ACA tax credits.

Medicare
Tens of thousands of seniors in Northwest Washington depend on Medicare as their only source of health coverage. I believe Medicare beneficiaries deserve the best treatments possible. To that end, I supported measures in the ACA that strengthen Medicare and improve its long-term viability. I also support cracking down on Medicare fraud, which helps keep Medicare sustainable and returns taxpayer dollars to their rightful purpose. I am working hard to ensure that Medicare and Medicaid are protected for future generations.

• I voted to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices for the first time in the nation’s history, cap annual out-of-pocket costs to $2000, cap the monthly cost of insulin to $35 and expand access to cost-free vaccinations – the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
• I supported legislation to expand Medicare to cover dental, vision, and hearing services.
• I introduced legislation with Rep. Suzan DelBene (WA-01) to protect seniors from new red tape the Trump administration is implementing in traditional Medicare – the Seniors Deserve SMARTER Care Act.
• I cosponsored legislation to permanently expand Medicare’s telehealth services.
• I cosponsored legislation to streamline Medicare Advantage’s prior authorization process – Rep. DelBene’s Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act.

Reproductive Health

• I cosponsored legislation to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade and re-establish a nationwide right to access abortion care – the Women’s Health Protection Act.
• I oppose the Trump administration’s efforts to freeze federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
• I introduced legislation to create a statutory right for people to receive IVF and to require private insurance companies, Medicaid, TRICARE, VA, and federal employee health benefits programs to cover fertility treatments without raising costs – the Right to IVF Act.
• I supported legislation to guarantee the right to access birth control in the United States – the Right to Contraception Act.
• I supported legislation to create a new national standard to protect reproductive and sexual health data, limiting the collection, retention, and use of personal reproductive and sexual health data without an individual’s consent.
• I supported legislation to repeal the provisions of the Comstock Act that anti-choice activists can misuse to enact a nationwide abortion ban.
• I supported legislation to repeal the Hyde Amendment, allowing women enrolled in federal health care programs to receive coverage for abortion services.
• I requested robust funding for Title X, the only federal program dedicated to providing family planning services (e.g., sexual health care, cancer screenings, STI testing, contraception, and pregnancy testing) for low-income individuals.

Other Actions

• I introduced bipartisan legislation to help rural hospitals like Island Health receive Critical Access Hospital designation and preserve access to affordable care – the Ensuring Rural Health Care Access for Military and Tribal Families Act.
• I oppose the politicization of the vaccines at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and I am pushing the Trump administration to follow science-based practices and support life-saving vaccines.
• I oppose the Trump administration’s efforts to cancel research funding, lay off researchers and experts at HHS, and dismantle our public health system.
• I cosponsored legislation to prohibit the Trump administration from increasing the costs of medications at community health centers.
• I requested the highest possible funding for community health centers.
• I requested robust funding for the National Institutes of Health and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to support public health and fund critical research into diseases like Alzheimer’s and ALS.
• I requested robust funding to support the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and mental and behavioral health, including the 988 Lifeline.