Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

Expanding Access to Affordable Health Care

While most North Carolinians have health insurance, 1.5 million do not. This number includes hundreds of thousands of children and is growing. For those of us fortunate enough to have health coverage, our premiums, co-pays, and deductibles are increasing sharply. Every year, we worry whether our employers are going to be forced to reduce or eliminate our coverage.

As the director for the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General's office, I oversee the Managed Care Patient Assistance Program, which helps health plan members secure payments from their insurer for treatments covered by their policy. I will continue to work to ensure that the dollars we spend on health insurance premiums translate into the coverage North Carolinians expect and need.

With double-digit health care inflation and too many neighbors under- or uninsured, our health care system needs reform. I will work in the Senate to make sure our health care system works well for us:

* Expand access to affordable health care and ensure that every child in North Carolina has health coverage.
* Control health care costs while improving quality.
* Ensure that health insurance companies do not deny health plan enrollees the coverage they are entitled to.
* Address the mental health care crisis.

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