Christine Palm

Having health insurance has never been more important than it is right now. Because of the COVID-19 crisis, many families have gone without health coverage due to the loss of employment. While we in the state legislature have worked to address that consequence of the pandemic by expanding dental and vision coverage for young adults, HUSKY coverage for children, and telehealth for people of all ages, we also simply cannot tolerate an increase of this magnitude for people who still do have insurance or might be trying to sign up for coverage.

(Click HERE to read more about the healthcare measures we passed during the 2021 legislative session.)

The benefits of a public option are numerous. The state public option would not only reign in health coverage costs but it would also allow more people to be insured (and crucially would provide individuals with more freedom because their health benefits would not be tied to their employment if they so chose). Any plan which leads to a healthier society because people are able to get regular checkups, find and treat diseases like cancer sooner, and keeps costs of medical procedures and medications down is worthy of all of our support. It certainly is preferable to our current system which subjects us all to the whims of insurance companies and their excessive, indefensible rate hikes which take advantage of some of our most vulnerable residents.

With insurance prices proving costly to both our health and our personal budgets, it is time to turn to bold solutions to attempt to fix our broken healthcare system.