Expanding Healthcare Access and Behavioral Health Resources
Comprehensive healthcare is a fundamental human right. As a twenty-year military member and disabled veteran, I have lived the benefits of universal healthcare firsthand. Throughout my military career as a Soldier and medical leader, I managed complex clinical logistics and witnessed the operational power of guaranteed care. When people have reliable, universal access to preventative and primary care, clinicians catch medical issues earlier. Early detection lets providers treat conditions more easily, effectively, and affordably. Robust primary care drastically reduces emergency room overcrowding, lowering systemic costs and eliminating hospital bottlenecks. Furthermore, I have seen the immense emotional burden lift from families when healthcare availability and medical bills are no longer factors during illness or injury. When you eliminate financial panic, a family can put 100% of their energy where it belongs: on healing and getting better.
In civilian life across Frederick County, families face the opposite reality. Working households confront doctor shortages, hospital backlogs, and crippling out-of-pocket costs. Drawing on my background directing medical logistics, I will champion state policies that expand clinical access and treat healthcare delivery as vital community infrastructure. I will fight to expand regional clinic networks, fund mobile health units in rural areas, and permanently protect Maryland's community health centers.
We must also confront our behavioral health emergency with permanent state investments. I will fiercely protect the 120 million dollar annual baseline for school-based mental health programs and champion funding mechanisms like House Bill 468 to tax corporate social media giants to fund youth psychiatric facilities. We must expand state tuition assistance and loan repayment programs to recruit mental health clinicians, psychiatric nurses, and addiction counselors for underserved areas. Additionally, we must permanently fund statewide telehealth services so residents can access therapy and specialists without taking unpaid time off or navigating transportation hurdles.
To control spiraling healthcare expenditures, we must tackle prescription drug pricing. I will introduce legislation to expand the statutory authority of Maryland's Prescription Drug Affordability Board, empowering the board to set binding upper payment limits on essential maintenance medications for diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Furthermore, I support transitioning Maryland Medicaid to a transparent fee-for-service model, eliminating predatory pharmacy benefit managers to direct hundreds of millions of dollars back into bedside clinical care. We will also enforce the Trans Health Equity Act by penalizing insurance companies that unlawfully categorize essential care as cosmetic. In Annapolis, I will build an equitable healthcare safety net where no family ever faces bankruptcy just to stay alive and healthy.