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Rep.-elect Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.)
Specialty: Emergency medicine
Active license: Yes
Job prior to election: Physician at Eisenhower Medical Center, Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Age: 40
Elected: 2012
Medical degree: M.D., Harvard University, 2001
(Answers provided via e-mail)
How does being a physician affect your approach to Congress? “It’s hard to think of policies in a vacuum when you’ve spent your whole life in a community, meeting real people who need real help.”
What happens now with the ACA?
“Patients need to know what’s available to them now, through the insurance exchanges that will help them have choices that are right for them, through provisions that will keep insurance companies from denying them coverage for pre-existing conditions, and keep kids on their parents’ insurance until the age of 26, and keep the doughnut hole closed so seniors can afford prescription drugs.”
What’s a healthcare priority the ACA didn’t address?
“My priority is to ensure that every young man and woman in my district who dreams of being a doctor has the resources to make that dream come true.” |
