Healthcare

Forgie for Affordable Healthcare for All

As a teacher, Adam sees what happens to working families that put off medical care because they can’t afford it. Healthcare must work for everyone and would benefit from some common sense measures. Adam will:

Protect and Strengthen the Affordable Care Act

• Protect the Affordable Care Act and oppose any attempt to rip coverage away from Western Pennsylvania families.
• Support expanding subsidies and closing coverage gaps so more working- and middle-class families can afford premiums.
• Back a public option people can choose to buy into — especially small-business employees, gig workers, and people between jobs.
• Keep private plans. If you like your employer or union plan, you keep it — no one forced off a plan that works.

Lower Prescription Drug Prices and Out-of-Pocket Costs

• Empower Medicare and the federal government to negotiate drug prices for more medications, not just a small list.
• Cap insulin costs and other life-saving drugs so no one is rationing medicine or skipping doses.
• Crack down on price gouging and junk fees from Big Pharma and insurance companies.
• Expand $0–low copay preventive care and primary care, so people can see a doctor before small problems become emergencies.

End Medical Debt as a Life Sentence

• Support federal efforts to cancel and buy out medical debt for working families and veterans.
• Ban medical debt from being used to lower your credit score, so one illness doesn’t wreck your future.
• Push hospitals and insurers to offer clear, upfront prices and reasonable payment plans, not surprise bills.
• Stop abusive debt-collection practices for medical bills.

Fix the Provider Shortage: More Doctors, Nurses, and Clinics Where People Live

• Expand incentives and loan forgiveness for doctors, nurses, and mental health professionals who serve in underserved communities in and around Pittsburgh.
• Support federally qualified health centers, urgent care, and community clinics so people don’t wait six months for a physical or three days when they’re sick.
• Invest in telehealth and broadband so people can see a doctor from home when appropriate.
• Protect and strengthen community hospitals against predatory private equity practices that gut services and close facilities.

Mental Health and Addiction: Treat It Like Real Health Care

• Require mental health and substance use treatment to be covered just like physical health — same networks, same copays, no more loopholes.
• Increase funding for school counselors, psychologists, and social workers, so students and teachers have support in the classroom.
• Expand inpatient and dual-diagnosis beds so people can get treatment when they’re ready, not sit on a waiting list.
• Support community-based recovery programs, peer support, and overdose prevention efforts.

Respect for Workers, Veterans, Seniors, and People with Disabilities

• Protect Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security from cuts or privatization.
• Ensure veterans’ health care and VA funding keep pace with needs — including mental health and transition services.
• Increase support and fair pay for direct care workers and home health aides who care for seniors and people with disabilities.
• Expand access to in-home and community-based services so people can live with dignity in their own homes.

Keep What Works, Fix What’s Broken

• Keep private insurance.
• Support incremental but serious reforms that cover more people, lower costs, increase access, and hold corporations accountable.
• Emphasize bipartisan, practical solutions where possible — e.g., drug price negotiation, telehealth expansion, mental health parity, billing transparency.

Bottom Line

Adam Forgie isn’t interested in ideological food fights. He’s interested in making sure that when your kid spikes a fever at midnight, when your parent needs surgery, or when you get bad news from a doctor, you can focus on getting care — not on whether you can afford to walk through the hospital door. In Congress, he’ll fight to lower costs, expand access, and protect the coverage people count on, so health care finally works for the people of Western Pennsylvania.

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