Massachusetts provides health insurance coverage to 97% of state residents but despite near universal coverage, we have yet to overcome critical barriers to accessing care. Disparities in insurance coverage and health care access continue to exist along income, racial, and education lines. The pandemic has worsened health care inequities and increased the need to invest in a stronger public health infrastructure to support future public health challenges. 

I will push for awareness and resources to take on the mental health crisis brought about by the pandemic in our state, advocating for access to critical mental health services for everyone, from children to seniors, and direct action as it relates to historically underfunded state program commitments. Being married to a Pediatric Neuropsychologist who has seen firsthand the spike in emotional distress among children, the need to directly address this crisis and provide support has never been more important. Over the last several years, there has been an ongoing and concerted effort to shut down these imperative services resulting in the closure of certain state-run facilities serving the profoundly developmentally disabled and state-run hospitals serving the mentally ill. These facilities serve the neediest and most underserved populations in our state. For all individuals facing mental health crises or substance abuse issues, increasingly often, the only care option has been the Emergency Room – or worse, the prison system, which is the most expensive and least effective method of treatment. Between lingering social stigmas and scarcity of services, connecting those in need of mental health and substance abuse issues with the care they require is increasingly difficult. 

I support H.4891 as noted above, as well as H.2088, which would legalize safe consumption sites, where medical professionals would be allowed to respond to overdoses and engage participants in medical and behavioral health services.