Laura Gillen, the Democratic nominee for Congressional District 4, outlined a plan to address healthcare disparities impacting Latino families, such as rising premiums, prescription drug prices, lack of coverage and underfunded local health centers.
Gillen discussed how she would tackle these issues at a roundtable with members of the Latino community on Oct. 24.
Her plan includes extending expiring premium tax credits, passing the Emergency Access to Insulin Act, pursuing Medicaid buy-in and increasing funding for community health centers in Latino communities.
“We have to consider the families living in this district across the country who don’t have health insurance coverage, which is true particularly for a lot of Latino families here in the fourth congressional district, who tend to be uninsured at higher rates” Gillen said.
Gillen said about 29,000 residents in the district don’t have health insurance, including 5,000 children. She said her goal is to reduce the uninsured rate by expanding coverage options.
“Sometimes buying insurance even through the affordable care exchanges is not affordable,” Gillen said. “So I am supporting the idea of allowing participants to buy into Medicaid so if they are not at the level where they qualify for it and they’re close, they might be able to contribute and buy into the Medicaid program.”
Gillen’s opponent, U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, said on DEspositoForCongress.com he also believes in increasing access to high-quality, affordable health care, including individuals with pre-existing conditions.
“To protect our economy and our health care system, Congressman D’Esposito adamantly opposes a government takeover of our health care system — costing trillions of dollars and controlling Americans’ personal medical decisions,” stated on DEspositoForCongress.com.
Gillen said one priority in her policy outline is to extend subsidies to keep premiums low.
“Healthcare costs are putting huge economic strain on so many families in the fourth congressional district,” Gillen said. “We have premium costs, and increasing prescription drug crisis are blowing up many family’s budgets, health insurance is becoming outrageously excessive and many Long Island families do not even have health insurance.”
Along with premiums, Gillen said the cost of prescription drugs has dramatically increased over the last couple of years, particularly for those who have chronic conditions, such as diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart disease. She said those with these conditions are disproportionately impacted by drug costs.
“We made progress with the inflation reduction act by allowing Medicare to negotiate prices and lower prices for participants in that program on prescription drugs and capping insulin at $35,” Gillen said. “However, there was so much more we can do. It’s only really affected about 10 classes of drugs, but we need to do more.”
Maria Rawley, a Baldwin senior, attended the roundtable to “show support for Laura Gillen” because she believes her plan will help Latino seniors, particularly those with prescription drug costs.
“Latinos tend to suffer from ‘triple play’ — high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. And they’re forced to pay a very high price for those essential medicines,” Rawley said.
Gillen said she wants to make insulin more affordable by supporting the Emergency Access to Insulin Act, which will deliver insulin in crises and promote market competition to lower the cost. She said she also wants to reach across the aisle and try to cap insulin for all families, not just those participating in Medicare.
“We have a ton of children who suffer from juvenile diabetes, and we need to make sure that no families are choosing between whether they can pay for their electric bill or groceries on their table or buy insulin for their child,” Gillen said.
Gladys Linares, a breast cancer survivor, was at the roundtable talking about how people in the community need to be aware about access to healthcare. She said she was grateful to know about it when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“As Maria was saying, we do suffer from diabetes, hypertension and we need awareness,” Linares said.
Gillen said she also wants to strengthen regulatory enforcement to crack down on price gouging.
“Finally, I think we need to work and I will work to invest in our underfunded institutions that provide vital, low-cost care to many of the residents in our district,” Gillens said.
Gillen said in Congress that she would support bipartisan measures to invest in local community health centers and expand their capacity to handle dental issues and mental health services.
“Runaway healthcare costs are hurting families on Long Island and in this congressional district,” Gillen said. “Rising premiums, prescription drug prices and not having insurance is really, really hurting families here and we need to provide additional relief for them.”
Gillen said it’s important to have a Congress in 2025 that is looking to address these high healthcare costs and “get things done for the families in this district.”
