Eddie Bernice Johnson is the House Representative for the 30 th Congressional District of Texas. In her thirteenth term, she was the first nurse elected to Congress on January 3, 1993, after the district establishment. Before her political career, she had been the chief Psychiatric Nurse at the Dallas Administration Hospital for 16 years.
Having a nurse at an elected capacity ensures support for health policies amidst the currently divisive debate on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). This battle also touches on the long-existing and historic Medicaid and Medicare, catering to access to health care for low-income people and the elderly, respectively. She vowed to fight for as long as she breathed during its 52 nd anniversary in 2017. As a former nurse, she understands more about health care matters and the stumbling blocks to access to care. She also understands the values of nurses in healthcare and said on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), "If we fully utilize the skills of nurses, we would have much better care outcomes" ( Nurse.com, 2013).
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In her long career, she has had a very stable and secure position in healthcare. These can be seen in the bills she has supported, voted for, and introduced. She was in a healthcare workforce for the ACA and helped her colleagues understand it. In 2011 she voted against a bill aimed at slashing the Medicare-Ryan Budget: Medicare choice, tax, and spending cuts (OnTheIssues, 2017). In the same year, she voted against the bill to amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , which aimed at repealing provisions that set the Prevention and Public Health Fund. In 2009 she voted for a bill expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program to cover more children. In 2019, she also supported the move by the House of Representatives intervening in a lawsuit threatening ACA.
References
Nurse.com. (2013). 40 years of advocacy: Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson a voice for nursing in Congress . Nurse.com Blog. https://www.nurse.com/blog/2013/06/03/40-years-of-advocacy-rep-eddie-bernice-johnson-a-voice-for-nursing-in-congress/
OnTheIssues. (2017). Eddie Bernice Johnson on health care . OnTheIssues.org - Candidates on the Issues. https://www.ontheissues.org/TX/Eddie_Bernice_Johnson_Health_Care.htm
