Access to Quality Healthcare
The Affordable Care Act has done nothing to address costs which continue to spiral out of control. It has also done little for residents in rural communities who continue to face shortages in care and limited access to specialists and quality care. North Carolina’s leaders should seek innovative solutions, including constructive policies, that control runaway costs, enhance quality care across the state, and provide relief from the burdens inflicted by the Affordable Care Act.
It is important to explore new and diverse solutions, such as telemedicine, to increase healthcare access and the quality of care received. Utilizing a combination of community paramedics and home health care has had a high success rate and favorable patient outcomes in Nash and Franklin Counties where community paramedics follow up with certain patients that have been discharged to make sure they have the necessary medications, supplies, and medical equipment. Healthcare should be patient-oriented and proactive. We need not only to try to address the barriers to quality healthcare, but in conjunction, the barriers to transportation, education, and even the motivation to be healthy.
Doctors and medical providers face barriers too: government regulation, costly malpractice insurance, liability and medicaid reimbursement limitations. As your representative, I hope to tackle many of these problems.
Quality Education for Everyone
There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to educating our children and preparing them for the future. We owe it to our children and the future of our state to provide quality education that offers a range of choices in order to best meet the academic needs and abilities of every student. We need policies that afford parents and students choice at the local level, within our higher education system, as well as a wide range of vocational education options. As a product of the public schools in North Carolina, I have witnessed and experienced the range of creative and innovative policies already available to our students. Our universities and community colleges are successfully training our workforce to compete in a global and diverse economy and I recognize the importance of continuing to develop high quality vocational programs so that our students have even more options. I am committed to working with state leaders to provide choices to families, support for our teachers, and the programs students need to succeed.
Jobs & Strong Local Economies
Our state leaders have done much to drive down corporate tax rates, control government spending and implement policies that have helped our state’s economy to grow in many areas. And while we continue to enjoy a strong statewide economy, there are some areas of the state that need greater support to provide jobs and build stronger local economies.
Rural communities, in particular, face different challenges from their urban neighbors where infrastructure, including internet availability, and quality roads and education are more readily accessible. Addressing rural issues like these is imperative to enabling job growth and economic prosperity in our rural communities as well.
Adopting business-friendly policies that drive private sector investment and encourage economic growth in local communities will create more jobs in all areas of our state.