How the 7 healthcare workers who just got elected to Congress plan to fix our broken system

At least seven newly elected Democrats with medical degrees or nursing backgrounds are heading to Congress, bringing direct experience of the US healthcare system into debates over policy. They say they want to help colleagues understand the human consequences of gaps in coverage, high costs and insurance decisions, and to shape proposals that work for patients in practice.

The group includes senators Annie Andrews, a paediatrician from South Carolina, and Abdul El-Sayed, a doctor and public health expert from Michigan, as well as five House members with clinical backgrounds. Their proposals range from a public insurance option or Medicare for All to targeted action on medicine prices and insurance denials. Republicans control the presidency, creating obstacles to the Democrats’ agenda in the near term; doctors Richard Pan and Amish Shah say their experiences treating patients will inform their work.