What is the greatest health care challenge facing Maryland today, and how do you plan to address it?
Marylanders have two equally pressing challenges: access to affordable and effective healthcare services and Maryland’s mental health crisis. For too long, our system has been overwhelmed by the needs of Marylanders to utilize reactive-based healthcare overwhelming our emergency rooms and urgent care clinics. We must invest in healthcare programs that encourage preventive care measures while ensuring individuals have access to affordable insurance that offers adequate coverage. Secondly, our mental health crisis has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is more clear than ever that we must invest in social and emotional learning in schools for young people; increase access to mental health professionals for adults; ease the burden of costs related to mental health services throughout our state; and work with our partners in the psychiatric unit, law enforcement, the courts, and behavioral health professionals to develop an assisted outpatient treatment program (AOT).
Maryland’s hospitals operate under a unique contract with the federal government that promotes community, equity, and value. It also contributes significantly to Maryland's economy. How do you plan to support the continued success of the Maryland Model?
The Total Cost of Care Model has created an effective cost controlling mechanism for people utilizing private, public, commercial, or self-pay insurance. The best way to support the future success of that model is to continue to work with the partners at the State of Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission. My goals would be to understand from the HSCRC what legislative initiatives would assist their organization in achieving its mission of improving health outcomes, enhancing the quality of care, and ultimately reducing the total cost of care for Marylanders.
Maryland is experiencing a shortage of health care practitioners, especially nurses, that we project will worsen in the years ahead. How do you plan to address the immediate crisis and what will you do to make sure we have a robust and sustainable health care workforce pipeline?
As Delegate Lewis Young’s Chief of Staff, I sought to partner with hospitals to have two separate crises work together to resolve one another. After meeting with Frederick Health Hospital, we coordinated a unique job fair marketed to the existing unemployment insurance claim case load that our office had undertaken for individuals who could not collect their state-mandated benefits. The job fair would open the door for individuals to enter a new industry in healthcare. The entry-level position pays above minimum wage. While it does not alleviate the number of nurses needed, it reduces the existing pressure on nurses who find themselves doing multiple jobs at once. My conversations with nurses were clear; there is so much burnout because they are not doing just their position but numerous positions inside the hospital due to low staff members. This relief mechanism could relieve some pressure on those individuals, and at the same time, our state can invest in nursing programs to streamline the process of getting new nurses employed.
How would you increase availability of and access to health care for Marylanders?
Healthcare is a human right. The evidence is unequivocal; preventative healthcare measures save the healthcare industry billions of dollars every year. The first step to lowering healthcare costs is to create a system that allows every Marylander to be signed up for healthcare. With access to quality, affordable, or free healthcare, our state would create a culture that encourages preventative medicine. Additionally, I believe the state should step in and firmly regulate the pharmacy benefit managers who strongly spike the cost of pharmaceuticals. Between increased participation, preventative healthcare measures, and cost-cutting processes, this form of healthcare is budget neutral and provides effective healthcare to all Marylanders.
What policies will you pursue to improve health for all Marylanders? Please also consider the social determinants of health?
Decades' worth of data has underscored healthcare disparities for black indigenous and people of color, LGBTQ+ people, low-income households, and other uncontrollable factors. It is imperative that our legislature recognizes deterrents and identifies unique solutions for disparate communities to help increase accessibility, preventative medicine, healthy life choices, and comprehensive treatment plans. For example, LGBTQ+ people are more likely to not go to a hospital or doctor’s office due to anxiety about stigmatizing their sexuality and gender. A tool that can be utilized is to guarantee that sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data is appropriately collected at intake with adequately trained staff, decreasing negative healthcare experiences and thus increasing the communities’ use of preventative services.
How do you plan to address consumers' growing exposure to health care costs, such as high deductible health plans and rising prescription drug prices in Maryland?
Maryland has taken many strides to curb healthcare insurance premiums and cost-sharing plans, including limiting the percentage of profit any carrier can collect on its clients. I would seek to limit the practice of over itemizing medical procedures and visits, encourage preventative healthcare initiatives, and ensure that all Marylanders have access to healthcare, inherently driving down the cost of unpaid emergency room visits. Finally, I believe the state should step in and firmly regulate the pharmacy benefit managers who strongly spike the cost of pharmaceuticals.
Maryland’s worsening medical liability climate, as noted in a recent independent report, threatens access to, and affordability of, health care services in Maryland. Plaintiffs’ attorneys typically take 40% of a medical malpractice judgment. Do you support limiting attorneys’ fees so that the affected individuals can receive more of their settlement or judgment? What additional reforms would you support that balance supporting individuals and families harmed by medical malpractice with ensuring continued access to services in a community?
While every medical malpractice incident is distressing, too many medical professionals are being restrained in the practice of medicine out of fear and, in some cases, the reality of bankruptcy and license revocation. We must respect an individual’s right to file a complaint when they feel aggrieved while not allowing the legal profession to become incentivized by unwarranted claims of malpractice. This issue requires extreme levels of scrutiny from stakeholders among hospitals, medical care providers, insurance companies, patient advocates, trial lawyers, and the courts to build a consensus on malpractice policy, procedure, and regulation.
What are your priorities should you be elected, not confined to health care?
I hope to address systematic and systemic inequities in government policy to help break down barriers for disenfranchised communities. I am a strong proponent of our public school system and believe that we must invest effectively in the generations to follow. I seek to work with stakeholders to identify budgetary inefficiencies to create greater access without unnecessary overhead. Finally, continuing to address our climate crisis is the single largest existential project our state and country face.
I look forward to supporting and introducing legislation that seeks to incrementally make the lives of every Marylander healthier, safer, and more fulfilling.