Universal Healthcare and Ending the Overdose Epidemic

Max has always fought to ensure Americans have access to the healthcare they deserve. Affordable healthcare is not a privilege, it is a right. As someone who helped run non-profit community health centers for the underserved throughout New York City, Max understands what it takes to reform our healthcare system to make it more affordable and more accessible.

As a member of Congress, Max took on Big Pharma and insurance companies to work to expand coverage and lower costs for the American people. That’s why he cosponsored and voted for H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, which would dramatically lower pharmaceutical drug prices for all Americans. He also fully supports permanently expanding and funding subsidies for the Affordable Care Act health care marketplace to ensure lower premiums and deductibles for middle class families. He also introduced the More Help for Seniors Act, which would lower out of pocket drug costs for more lower and middle-income seniors. His bill passed the House after it was included in H.R. 3. And Max fought for and will continue to fight to end surprise billing, which happens when people unknowingly get care from providers that are outside of their health plan's network and can happen for both emergency and non-emergency care.

To help achieve affordable and universal healthcare coverage, Max supports creating a public healthcare option to force insurance companies to compete for customers as well as lowering the Medicare eligibility age to 55. He also strongly believes we should finally provide dental, vision, and hearing coverage for everyone on Medicare.

As our country continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, Max understands that we need to be investing in innovative healthcare solutions and our public health infrastructure. As a Member of Congress, Max was a leader in pushing for additional funding for the National Institute of Health to make sure our country’s researchers have the resources to find the treatments and cures of tomorrow.

Combating the overdose epidemic

Over 100,000 Americans died from overdoses in the last 12 months and more will likely die from overdoses in 2022 than COVID. NY-11 has also been one of the epicenters of this horrific crisis. In the face of this, combating the overdose epidemic is one of Max’s top priorities. While in Congress, Max’s bipartisan bill, the Fentanyl Sanctions Act, imposed sanctions on drug manufacturers in China and other nations that produce illicit opioids for traffickers, and on transnational criminal organizations like those in Mexico who traffic fentanyl into the U.S. and as well as on financial institutions that assist them. This important piece of legislation was signed into law and makes it possible for our country to start holding China accountable.

Max delivered again for our community when he secured $140 million dollars in increased funding for opioid prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts following his bipartisan push. Max understands that in order to counter the overdose crisis, America must invest in a new, bold and comprehensive strategy to end the opioid epidemic - one that uses predictive analytics and innovative computing to identify and seek out our neighbors who are most likely to overdose so peer mentors and caring medical professionals can intervene to save their life. This outreach needs to be combined with the evidence-based care we know works including medications for opioid use disorder, narcan distribution, substance use disorder counseling, behavioral health services, and work to address underlying causes of addiction that all too often contribute to personal overdose crises and needless deaths.