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Rep.-elect Ami Bera (D-Calif.)
Specialty: Internal medicine
Active license: Yes
Job prior to election: Clinical professor at
UC Davis School of Medicine
Age: 47
Elected: 2012
Medical degree: M.D., University of California at Irvine, 1991
(Answers provided via e-mail)
How does being a physician affect your approach to Congress?
“As a doctor, I was trained to listen and to put my patients first. In Congress, I’ll listen to my constituents needs and put people before politics.”
What happens now with the ACA?
“We don’t want to go back to a time where people were denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions, where women had to pay more than men for the same care, and where millions of young people lived without coverage. What we need to do now is build on that foundation and start to address the high cost of care. But we still need to work in a bipartisan way to actually address the cost of care.”
What’s a healthcare priority the ACA didn’t address?
“We need to honor the promise of Medicare that we’ve made to our parents and grandparents so that they can get the healthcare they need after a lifetime of work. We also need to make sure it’s there for the next generation.” |
