Catherine repeatedly voted to defend the Affordable Care Act, blocking an “Age Tax” on older Nevadans and saving health care protections for 487,000 Nevadans with pre-existing conditions like diabetes, asthma, and cancer.
In the Senate, Catherine has focused on lowering health care costs so that quality care is more accessible for Nevada families. She introduced legislation to cap the cost of insulin at $35 per month. She successfully repealed a painful 40% tax on many middle class Nevadans’ health plans, a promise from her 2016 Senate campaign. When the coronavirus hit, she helped to cut the cost of health care coverage by an average of $444 per month and helped over 40,000 Nevadans become eligible for coverage. She made sure health insurance for thousands of out of work Nevadans was available at no cost.
Catherine has been the Senate leader on addressing mental health issues, focusing on delivering crisis services and improving student wellness after Nevada faced a surge of teen suicides during the pandemic. She wrote a bill to improve virtual peer-to-peer programs for Nevadans struggling during the pandemic – including kids, health care workers, and seniors, and with a Texas Republican, she introduced legislation to expand behavioral health crisis services in Nevada and across the country.
After watching her grandmother struggle with Alzheimer’s, Catherine made it her mission to help those living with the disease and their caregivers. She co-authored bipartisan legislation, which was signed into law, that made historic public investments in the fight against Alzheimer’s. And she’s secured $1 million to get caregivers the support they deserve.
Catherine has consistently pushed to lower prescription drug costs by holding big pharmaceutical companies accountable for skyrocketing prices. She has pushed legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and to cap the cost of lifesaving insulin so that every Nevadan can get the medicine they need at an affordable price.
