No one in Minnesota’s Second District should have to choose between filling a prescription and filling the refrigerator. Yet that is the choice many families, and especially our seniors, are forced to make. The cost of medication has climbed to the point where people ration the drugs that keep them healthy, skip doses to make a bottle last, or simply go without. A healthcare system that prices people out of the care they need is failing at its most basic job.
As a father and as someone who has spent his career close to families, I see the toll this takes. A parent who delays care because of the cost ends up sicker and more expensive to treat later. A senior on a fixed income watches a larger and larger share of that income disappear into the pharmacy counter. The stress of medical debt follows families for years and can undo everything else they have worked to build.
My most direct commitment is to cap the cost of prescription drugs. Americans pay far more for the same medications than people in other countries, not because the drugs are better, but because the system allows it. In Congress, I will fight to let public programs negotiate drug prices, cap out-of-pocket costs for essential medications, and crack down on the practices that keep prices artificially high. Lowering the cost of medicine is one of the fastest, most concrete ways to put money back in families’ pockets.
Beyond prescriptions, I will defend and strengthen access to affordable, quality healthcare for everyone in the district. That means protecting coverage that families rely on, defending protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and expanding access to care in the rural and underserved parts of our district where clinics and providers are scarce. It also means taking mental health seriously as part of healthcare, not separate from it. As a former school counselor, I have seen how badly we under-invest in mental health, and how much suffering that neglect causes.
Healthcare should be judged by one question: can a family in our district get the care they need without being financially ruined by it? Right now, for too many people, the answer is no. I am running to change that. Lowering drug costs and protecting access are not partisan goals. They are about whether our neighbors can stay healthy and whole. That is a fight worth bringing to Washington, and it is one I will take on without hesitation.
