We cannot go back to the days when someone could be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition or when you could be charged more for coverage for simply being a woman. That’s why I have consistently voted to protect the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and build on it. I championed the passage of the American Rescue Plan in 2021, which included the first major expansion of the advanced premium tax credits since the ACA’s initial passage, which helped nearly 22 million people across the country enroll in affordable, quality health care. However, Congressional Republicans let these tax credits expire at the end of 2025. Because Congress failed to extend them, Washingtonians enrolled in health plans through WA Healthplanfinder are seeing their premiums increase by an average of 65 percent. This will cause tens of thousands of Washingtonians to lose their health care coverage.
I am working to ensure the ACA tax credits are permanent. In January 2026, House Democrats fought for legislation to extend them for three years. While this effort passed the House of Representatives, Republicans in the Senate stalled this effort, leaving many Americans with rising health care costs. The fight isn’t over, and I’m still working everyday to restore this critical program.
I support getting America to universal quality coverage and the best way to incentivize competition is to give people a choice between public and private coverage options. We must make it easier and more affordable for small businesses to provide health coverage for their employees.
Medicaid, called Apple Health in Washington, along with the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provide coverage to nearly 80 million people nationwide, including more than 1.8 million Washingtonians. These programs play a crucial role in providing families access to health care. However, the Republican’s Big, Ugly Bill, gave substantial tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and paid for them by slashing Medicaid funding by $1 trillion. These cuts include at least $3 billion from Apple Health each year. We must reverse these cruel, Republican cuts to Medicaid when Democrats take back the House Majority.
Medicare is a cornerstone of our nation’s health care system. I am committed to protecting it and will fight against any efforts to privatize or dismantle Medicare. The focus instead should be on controlling the rising costs of care and improving the quality of care our seniors receive. That’s why I championed policies that now allow the government to negotiate lower prescription drug prices in Medicare, cap insulin prices at $35 per month, and cap out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors at $2,000 annually. These commonsense reforms are costs for seniors and improve access to care. Moving forward, we must extend these hard-fought cost savings to all Americans, not just those with Medicare.
During my time in Congress, I have focused on making health care work better for patients and providers. That is why I introduced the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act to streamline health insurance red tape to deliver quality care faster. Due to the overwhelming bipartisan support for my legislation, the federal government implemented many elements of the bill, and I am now focused on cementing that policy into law so that insurance plans will be held accountable for delaying or denying medically necessary care that seniors are entitled to.
I am also leading the charge against a new program the Trump administration started this year in Washington and five other states that allows private companies to use AI to delay and deny care for seniors on traditional Medicare and pays the company based on how much care they deny. I introduced the Seniors Deserve SMARTER Care Act to cancel the program.
