Our Plan to Improve Access to Affordable Health Care

We need access to affordable health care. The majority of Missourians are just a health crisis away from going bankrupt. Over 200,000 Missourians have no access to affordable care. We need an Attorney General who will fight government corruption, enact smart health care policy, and always stand up for our families.

Here’s what I’ll do:

1. Withdraw Missouri from the lawsuit to end the Affordable Care Act. It makes no sense to burn down the plan we have when there is no alternative proposal. The Affordable Care Act is not perfect, but it’s far better than nothing. It provides protections for folks with preexisting conditions, increases fraud prevention, and expands access to Medicaid for millions of Americans, among providing many other protections. Additionally, we are participating in expensive litigation over issues that were already litigated before the United States Supreme Court. We can spend that time and and taxpayer money on serving the People of Missouri instead. Imagine that? I will end this litigation and side with Missourians.
2. Advocate for Medicaid Expansion. Expanding Medicaid will help over 200,000 Missourians access affordable care. It will have a huge impact on rural Missouri, helping many hospitals stay open and allowing Missourians with health conditions to live where they would like to. It will expand access to substance abuse treatment and mental health services. It will decrease bankruptcies, debt-collection court dockets, and improve services for Missourians with disabilities. It will help the majority of our families that are worried if they’ll be able to afford a health scare.
   Medicaid Expansion will save lives, save hospitals, and save our state money. I’m proud to have helped collect signatures for the effort and to help with the statewide effort to vote yes on 2 on August 4. As Attorney General, I will continue supporting Medicaid Expansion.
   Once we do pass Medicaid Expansion, I will ensure fidelity within the Medicaid system and constitutional implementation. In the event the legislature places barriers to eligibility to reduce participation, I will fight added bureaucracy and the placement of undue burdens on Missourians.
3. Increase accountability in our Medicaid system. This past year, our state government wrongly took Medicaid coverage away from tens of thousands of children. State leaders then blamed the parents for not fighting hard enough to keep their kids on Medicaid, despite the fact that the state’s call centers were overloaded and the state’s computer system was faulty. When the expert in charge of overseeing the program blew the whistle, he was fired. Our Attorney General was nowhere to be found. As Attorney General, I will investigate and prosecute government corruption. I won’t let our government ignore our children and our most vulnerable families.
4. Prosecute Medicaid fraud. The Attorney General plays a very important role in ensuring doctors and other health care providers are not stealing taxpayer money in the Medicaid system. Most health care workers do great work for the right reasons, but some care more about profits than about us. As Attorney General, I will go after Medicaid fraud. That includes investigating nursing homes and similar care environments that wrong their residents.
5. Hold insurance companies accountable. The last thing anyone wants is to deal with insurance companies trying to avoid paying. As Attorney General, I will enforce Missouri’s consumer protections and hold insurance companies to their end of the bargain. I will fight for increased transparency in the process, easier-to-understand terms, and payments for treatment. I am not taking corporate or big money in this campaign, and I will not be beholden to any of these big corporations. I will be your Attorney General.
6. Investigate scammers buying and exploiting under-resourced hospitals. A few companies prey on vulnerable hospitals, purchase them, and then extract every ounce of profit they can before closing up shop and leaving the local community without any access to health care services. Many of these schemes use fraudulent mechanisms to make false promises and extract even more money from local governments and communities. Their exploitation will not be tolerated in Missouri.
7. Improve substance abuse treatment. Medicaid Expansion will go a long way to helping us get a handle on substance abuse treatment. So will our state’s lawsuit against opioid manufacturers. As Attorney General, I will ensure that any settlement with opioid manufacturers works for Missourians and includes support for substance abuse treatment; I won’t repeat what happened with our previous large state settlements.
8. Protect privacy. Large data-mining corporations and our government threaten privacy in our health care system. As Attorney General, I will protect us from both. I will advocate for our legislature to pass greater privacy protections, I will enforce our consumer protection laws against scammers and data-miners, and I will start Missouri’s first Civil Rights Division to protect our constitutional rights to privacy and autonomy in health care decisions.
9. Prevent environmental threats to our health. In several parts of our state, environmental hazards create serious health risks for our families. We are failing to enforce legal requirements against polluters in Missouri. In the last few years, the Attorney General’s Office eliminated the environmental and agricultural division. I will bring back a Conservation Division that will take pollution and contamination seriously.
10. Antitrust enforcement. Our economy is growing more and more concentrated. Monopolies eliminate competition and provide immense power to corporations, especially in health care. As Attorney General, I will enforce antitrust protections to ensure fairness in the health care marketplace.
11. Fight surprise billing. Many Americans get surprise bills after receiving health care treatment, thinking that they were in-network and only later discovering they were not. This is a consumer protection violation and a practice that continues thanks to big hidden dark money spenders in our elections. As Attorney General, I will take on surprise billing and promote transparency in our health care.
12. Transparency in elections and government. Health care makes up a huge portion of our economy. That money brings lobbyists and campaign donations. We need transparency in our elections and government to ensure our policies are not bought and paid for. As Attorney General, I will enforce our constitutional provisions banning hidden dark money, and I will enact serious ethics reforms in Missouri.

We need an Attorney General who will fight for our health care.

You can join our effort to make our government work for We the People at EladGross.org.

To see more of our plans, visit www.EladGross.org/solutions.