How would you make healthcare more affordable and accessible?

We must fix multiple pressure points at once: prices, access, incentives, and transparency.

Allow Medicare to negotiate more aggressively and cap out-of-pocket costs for common prescriptions. Encourage faster entry of generics.

Enforce existing transparency rules so patients can see real prices before treatment. Pay the same for the same procedure whether it’s done in a hospital or outpatient clinic.

Fix insurance structure so it works like actual insurance. Insurance should protect against major risk not act as a middleman for every routine expense.

• Expand high-value coverage models where preventive care is fully covered and catastrophic coverage is for big events.

• Cap deductibles relative to income so people aren’t “insured but can’t afford to use it.”

• Increase competition across state lines to give consumers more options.

Access requires availability.

• Invest in rural hospitals and clinics to prevent job losses and risking lives due to travel times and distances.

• Expand scope of practice for nurse practitioners and physician assistants when possible.

• Expand tele-health options especially for mental health and basic primary care.

Move from fee-for-service to value-based care which pays providers based on patient outcomes. Incentivize early intervention for chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Integrate mental health with primary care.

The U.S. spends an enormous amount on billing complexity.

• Standardize billing systems and insurance forms.

• Use automation/AI to cut paperwork and prior authorization delays.

• Simplify provider networks and approvals.

Social Security is projected to face funding shortfalls in the coming years. Do you support changes to the program, and how would you ensure its long-term solvency without cutting benefits?

First, Social Security is not a handout or entitlement. It’s a promise to give you back the money you paid into the system. Second, I will not support privatizing Social Security.

The reality is that if we do nothing, the system will face shortfalls in the next 6-7 years due in part to the Trump’s Tax Bill passed in July 2025. But, the solution is not to cut benefits.

We must:

• Remove the salary cap on who pays into the system or raise to at least $1MM in earned income

• Apply a modest Social Security tax to high investment income. High earners increasingly make money through capital gains, dividends, and pass-through income, which currently escape Social Security entirely. A small SS-dedicated surtax on investment income above a high threshold (e.g., $250K–$500K) would reflect modern income realities.

• If needed, raise the payroll tax rate by 1% total from 12.4% to 13.4%, split between employee and employer (+0.5% each). This alone closes a meaningful portion of the long-term funding gap with relatively small impact per worker. I would support an lower increase of 0.5% for self-employed individuals who pay both sides.

This problem is solvable and requires real leadership to fix.

Do you support expanding Medicaid to stabilize rural healthcare?

YES. I’m going to fight for solutions that keep rural hospitals open and make healthcare accessible, because no one’s zip code should determine whether they live or die.

Rural hospitals aren’t just healthcare providers, they’re economic lifelines. When a hospital closes, a community doesn’t just lose care; it loses jobs, stability, and often its future.

Right now, too many of these hospitals are drowning in uncompensated care because people simply can’t afford coverage. That cost gets shifted onto everyone else, or the hospital shuts its doors.

Expanding Medicaid is a practical, fiscally responsible way to keep these hospitals open. It brings federal dollars back into our state, reduces uncompensated care, and helps ensure people get treated before small problems become expensive emergencies.

What specific actions would you take to make housing more affordable?

Housing is the foundation of the American Dream. When people own their home they are more invested in their communities and schools resulting in higher home values, more safety, and better performing schools.

Homeownership and rent are increasingly out of reach for many Americans. The average age of a first-time homeowner is now 40 years old. The core problem is simple: we don’t have enough housing; and what we do have is getting more expensive to develop, build and buy.

We need to:

• Incentivize local zoning (i.e. tie federal funding for transportation and infrastructure to local housing targets) reform for higher density and to include starter homes and multi-family housing.

• Expand low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) and increase funding for HUD programs

• Unlock federal land for residential development.

• Expand loan assistance programs to help with closing costs and related expenses for buyers using income limits and average local market price

• Ensure large institutional buyers aren’t monopolizing the market and blocking out families and individuals; limit number of homes that can be purchased and a time frame for re-sale.

• Lower construction costs by strategically reducing or removing tariffs (i.e. Canadian lumber) on building materials and supplies and create a work visa program for non-citizen trades and craftsmen.

What specific actions would you take to lower the cost of living?

Congress can implement policies to increase market competition, reduce regulatory burdens on businesses, decrease government spending to lower deficits and interest rates, and lower or eliminate unnecessary tariffs. Key actions include investing in supply chain infrastructure and strengthening antitrust enforcement to combat price gouging.

On healthcare:

• Increase price transparency so people know what they’re paying for and increase marketplace competition

• Increase oversight on anti-competitive practices among insurers, hospital systems, and pharmacy managers and how they increase costs to consumers.

• Allow Medicare to negotiate more drug prices to bring costs down across the system

• Lower age for Medicare to 50 and finance thru a small increase in the FICA tax

On groceries and everyday costs:

• Take on consolidation in the food supply chain, where fewer companies who are controlling more of the market causes higher prices.

• Strengthen antitrust enforcement so corporations can’t quietly raise prices without competition.

• Lower transportation and supply chain costs where possible.

• Implement policies to increase market competition, reduce regulatory burdens on businesses.

• Work with our farmers to grow products we need at home and not for export.

• Strategically eliminate tariffs on imports (such as steel and aluminum) which can lower costs for manufacturers and consumers.

• Invest in infrastructure like ports, roads, and bridges helps reduce bottlenecks, improving the efficiency of the supply chain and reducing transportation costs.

How would you balance border security with civil liberties and due process?

This is not an either-or question. We need both: a secure border and a system that respects the rule of law and basic human dignity.

We should enforce immigration laws and remove dangerous individuals from our communities. But, the current approach is too broad, too aggressive, and lacking accountability as a growing number of Americans believe enforcement has gone too far.

We need a smarter approach:

• Focus ICE resources on serious criminals and national security threats

• Require transparency and accountability: no masks, and require body cameras, clear identification, and judicial warrants signed by a judge

• Protect due process so people know their rights and can have their day in court

Parents and students feel like the education system isn’t delivering. What would you do to improve outcomes and restore confidence in our schools?

Education should be the great equalizer in this country. Not unlike healthcare and jobs, too many families feel like it’s falling short. Test scores are dropping, costs per student are rising, and teachers are leaving the profession.

We must:

• Support teachers with better pay, smaller class sizes, and less bureaucracy so they can focus on teaching, not paperwork or teaching to a test.

• Prioritize fundamentals such as reading, math, and critical thinking, especially in early grades.

• Expand career options because not every student needs a four-year degree. We should offer training in skilled trades, apprenticeships, and technical education.

From the Federal (Congress) level:

• Rebuild the Department of Education into a world class education support agency.

• Congress controls federal financial aid policy that provides federal money, impacting Title I funding for 26 million students and special education services for 7.4 million children.

• Ensure that student loans are available, at the lowest rates possible and that re-payment programs support a student’s career growth and doesn’t overburden them with debt.

• Congress oversees the enforcement of civil rights in schools, ensuring equitable access.