Health Care
As an Emergency Room doctor, I know how important it is for people in the 36th district to have access to quality, affordable health care. Some improvements have been made to our healthcare system, such as allowing parents to insure their children until the age of 26, making prescription drugs more affordable for seniors, and ensuring that people with preexisting conditions cannot be denied insurance coverage. However, our system remains imperfect and expensive, wasting billions every year and we must continue working to improve it.
We must address the waste, fraud and abuse in our health care system. In my position on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, I have focused on improving the health care system for our nation’s veterans and developing bipartisan solutions to end the Veterans Affairs backlog of disability claims. There are real opportunities to save the American public billions of dollars, like using electronic medical records to coordinate care and make our healthcare system more efficient. Also, allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices on behalf of beneficiaries would save over a billion dollars and make prescriptions more affordable for our seniors.
I am first and foremost a physician, and the health of our community is my chief concern. I will continue to fight to protect the Medicare and Social Security benefits that seniors have worked hard to earn and find bipartisan solutions that will improve our nation’s healthcare system. Good ideas don’t belong to a single party, and I will continue to reach across the aisle to improve healthcare for the residents of California’s 36th Congressional district.
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Congressman Raul Ruiz is a physician and public health expert, representing one of California’s rural districts. He tells Lawrence O’Donnell that systemic inequalities and access to resources are the biggest challenge to getting vaccines to underserved communities. “They don’t have internet to make online appointments at vaccination centers, they have to work at high risk essential jobs and don’t have hours to spend on the phone, and they’re very concerned if they test positive that they won’t be able to go to work.”
Washington, DC – The Biden Administration has announced more vaccines are coming to Riverside County Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). Last week, Dr.
The United Farm Workers Foundation is working to get vaccines distributed to farmworkers in the Coachella Valley.
The organization held a clinic for east valley workers Wednesday but some are saying more work needs to be done to protect our essential workers.
The U.S. is currently administering about 1.4 million vaccination shots a day. About 9.5% of people in the U.S. have already gotten one dose.
But demand still outstrips supply in cities across the country, while anecdotes abound about difficulties of trying to get appointments.
Scientists say vaccinations need to be as fast as possible to prevent more contagious coronavirus variants from taking over.
Andrea Garcia and her family contracted the coronavirus this fall, and her grandmother died from it. Now, as the oldest of four children and the first in her family to go to college, Garcia said she feels a responsibility to inform her Spanish-speaking parents about COVID-19 and the vaccine.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is calling on governors to follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prioritize food and agriculture workers in the vaccine rollout.
In a letter sent to the National Governor's Association on Wednesday, the caucus made an urgent case: Latinos make up more than a third of the workforce in those industries, yet they account for nearly three-fourths of confirmed coronavirus cases in the same sectors.
Palm Desert, CA – Congressman Raul Ruiz, M.D. (CA-36) has been sounding the alarm on the need for a vaccine distribution plan that prioritizes and implements health equity for months – long before a vaccine was even approved for use in the United States. Today, during the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee entitled, “No Time to Lose: Solutions to Increase COVID-19 Vaccinations in the States,” Rep. Ruiz laid out continued challenges facing communities like the East Valley in getting vaccines.
Black and Latino Americans are falling behind in the nationwide race to get vaccinated against Covid-19, even in blue states and localities praised for championing racial equity during earlier phases of the pandemic.
Several Coachella Valley agencies and Riverside County partnered to bring a mobile vaccination site to farmworkers of the eastern Coachella Valley. A total of 250 vaccinations were designated for Monday's event at Tudor Ranch in Mecca.
Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz and Supervisor V. Manuel Perez were among those who attended. Monday was Rep Ruiz's first public appearance since he was cleared after contracting COVID-19.
Washington, D.C. – Over the weekend, Congressman Raul Ruiz’s (CA-36) bill to expand access to lifesaving care for patients with opioid use disorder was signed into law. H.R. 2281, the Easy Medication Access and Treatment (Easy MAT) for Opioid Addiction Act, would expand access to care for people seeking long-term care after a trip to the emergency department. By easing current restrictions that prevent patients from accessing the treatment they need, Dr.