In my most recent State House role as the Chief of Staff for the House Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health, I gained an invaluable education on issues from newborn screenings to green burials. Public health crises from maternal mortality to substance use disorder are devastating our families and communities, and the ongoing impacts of structural racism and wealth inequality are clear. We need to prioritize health equity and ensure that people are getting the care that they need, when and where they need it. 

I have worked on:

• Legislation establishing a standing order for emergency contraception at pharmacies across the state, which became the vehicle for An Act Expanding Protections for Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Care following the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade. 
• Staffing the Racial Inequities in Maternal Health Commission from its convening through its final report and then developing legislation to advance the Commission’s recommendations:
  • Legislation expanding and strengthening the Massachusetts Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee, which has been signed into law.
  • Bills to provide postpartum home visiting and breastfeeding care and to expand the doula workforce, along with other legislation that is now part of the maternal health omnibus bill currently moving through the Legislature.
• Legislation, which has been signed into law, restricting when insurance companies can mandate step therapy.
• Bills expanding access to behavioral health care for children and adolescents, addressing the emergency room "boarding" crisis, establishing a 988 commission to implement the new national suicide and crisis lifeline, and more, which were included in 2022's behavioral health reform law. 
• A bill to establish a 10-year overdose prevention center pilot program, including civil and criminal protections for staff, clients, and operators, as well as a study to inform public health efforts and prevent overdose deaths.
• Legislation that would reform the competency to stand trial process and improve mental health services for incarcerated people. 
• Bills to provide insurance coverage for supportive care for severe mental illness, to require insurance coverage for medication for serious mental illness without prior authorization or step therapy, and to end unnecessary hospitalizations and reduce emergency department boarding.
• Legislation that would require reimbursement for all telehealth services to be on par with in-person services, that would establish a community health workforce development task force to provide health equity, and that would identify and eliminate racial, sexual orientation, and gender identity disparities in behavioral health treatment.
• Bills before the Joint Committee on Public Health, including legislation to improve outdoor and indoor air quality in environmental justice communities; to expand access to menstrual products; and to accelerate equity and effectiveness in our local and regional public health systems. 

If elected, I will fight for:

• Putting people over profits and stopping private equity from looting our healthcare system.
• Removing barriers to and providing funding for reproductive healthcare, including abortion care. 
• Promoting harm reduction and substance use treatment, including overdose prevention centers, supportive housing, and public health solutions rather than criminalization and incarceration.
• Providing MassHealth coverage for income-eligible children and young adults, regardless of immigration status, and for lactation consultant services.
• Expanding access to ConnectorCare (the state’s subsidized health insurance program), eliminating or reducing co-pays for chronic conditions, increasing oversight of pharmacy benefit managers, and holding drug manufacturers accountable for addressing high drug costs. 
• Developing our healthcare workforce so that it is culturally and linguistically reflective of the patients whom it serves.