Lowering Drug Cost

We have all seen the effects of the high cost of medications. Even if you have insurance, some medications are unattainable due to pricing. As a nurse, I am all too aware that many people in our state have to choose routinely between buying their medicine or buying groceries. This should never happen. We must find a way to lower the cost of medicine and medical supplies.

Supporting Rural Hospitals

Early in my life, I saw first hand the need and importance of rural hospitals when my family had to rush my grandmother to the local hospital and the doctors told us that if we had been a few minutes later, she would not have survived. We were so fortunate to have one within a 15 minute drive. Unfortunately there are many areas in our state that can not say this. There has been an abundance of hospitals or specialty units closing their doors in the last several years. We need to work diligently on finding a way to support our rural hospitals, clinics and specialty units. Everyone deserves to receive quality health care.

Growing up near a small town, I have seen first-hand what the lack of investment in our infrastructure has caused. In almost every city and small town that I have traveled to so far, the need has been the same. They need funding to update and maintain their water systems, roads and structures. While there is some funding available, it seems that there is a need for much more due to the magnitude of areas in need. We need to work harder to find solutions that can help our smaller towns and cities thrive and grow.

Growing a strong economy should be a priority in our state. Every North Carolinian should be able to earn a living wage, so that they can be able to put food on the table and afford a place to live. One way that we can achieve this is to fund training and licensure programs in our colleges and trade schools. We also need to work on providing assistance to our small business owners and farmers. There has been a decline in farming recently and we need to find the problem leading to this and work together to find a satisfactory salution.

The future of our state and our nation will be in the hands of our children and grandchildren in the coming years. In order to make certain that they are equipped to handle this task, we must make certain that they receive a quality education. This means making certain that the funding is available for each student, as well as each school, to have what is needed. For many years now, teachers have had to purchase supplies for their classes out of their own pockets, because there was not enough money for the school to purchase it. There has to be a solution to make certain that no student has to struggle to learn without having a textbook to take home or a teacher has to spend her own money to provide the basic supplies that her class needs. This needs to be a priority for the next leaders of our state and country.

As we all are too aware, crime is on the rise. We find ourselves in need of protection or the services of law enforcement more than ever. But unfortunately, they may not be available when we need them. During my travels, I have spoken to many law enforcement agencies and the stories are the same. There is a shortage of officers. Most of the areas have this issue due to lack of funds available to pay the officers what they can make in larger areas. Who can blame the officers for going where they can make more money to make it easier to support their families. But this leaves many areas undermanned. We need to find solutions that can allow us to better fund our law enforcement and to provide the people of North Carolina access to good public safety.

North Carolina families are paying too much for everything, especially the necessities. It is truly a struggle. One way that we could make a change, is a study should be made of the state’s financial programs and if any are found to be outdated or inadequate, they should either be fixed or removed from the state’s budget. This could lead to one of two things. It could either give the state more money for better programs or give the government an incentive to lower or remove all together the sales tax on necessities such as groceries, gasoline, and clothing. The lowering of sales taxes or suspending of sales tax on these items would help every citizen in our state.