Could VP-nominee Tim Walz rescue US healthcare from its downward trajectory?
Key Takeaways
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was a top choice for Kamala Harris’s VP pick among both progressives and moderate Democrats.
Walz has supported key issues such as abortion rights, affordable insulin, and improved access to care, including mental health LGBTQ+ healthcare.
Minnesota’s healthcare system is said to be the best in the country, underscoring Walz’s dedication to increasing access to better healthcare nationwide.
Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, 60, as her running mate for the 2024 election.[] The democratic VP nominee became governor in 2018 and has six terms as a member of Congress under his belt.
Walz’s track record of healthcare quality and access is clear—during his time in Congress and his stint as governor, much of Walz’s platform centered around improving access to better healthcare for all US citizens, including veterans, LGBTQ+ individuals, and patients with chronic illness. Let’s take a closer look at Walz's current stance on today's top healthcare issues.
Mental healthcare for all
During his time in Congress, Walz focused on veteran health, zeroing in on chronic pain and mental health issues, for which he advocated the use of medical cannabis.[] He also pushed for the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, which was signed into law in 2015 by former President Barack Obama.[]
Walz has also advocated for better overall mental healthcare. In 2022, he signed the omnibus mental health budget law, which invested $60 million in Minnesota's mental health system.[] The bill aimed to “increase hospital bed capacity, attract new mental health care professionals, and expand the use of mobile crisis units,” according to a press release.
A far cry from his conservative counterparts, Walz also supports expanding access to healthcare to LGBTQ+ individuals.
In addition to banning conversion therapy, he took executive action to protect access to gender-affirming healthcare in Minnesota last year, which included “all medical, surgical, counseling, or referral services, including telehealth services, that an individual may receive to support and affirm that individual’s gender identity or gender expression.”[][]
“As states across the country move to ban access to gender-affirming care, we want LGBTQ Minnesotans to know they will continue to be safe, protected, and welcome in Minnesota,” Governor Walz said in a statement.[]
Walz is also invested in other public health and safety issues, such as banning the use of hand-held cell phones while driving and raising the age limit on tobacco purchases to 21.[][]
Reproductive rights
Walz signed a bill last year that focused on fertility treatments, birth control, and abortion access, protecting reproductive rights in Minnesota.[] While abortion access was already protected by the Minnesota Supreme Court, Walz's new bill added an extra safeguard—any future reversal of the law would be prevented. Another bill he signed protects patients, and their providers, if they receive an abortion in Minnesota after traveling from a state that bans abortions.[]
“Abortion is healthcare,” he told CNN earlier this year, adding, “I think old white men need to learn how to talk about this a little more. And I think the biggest thing is, listen to women, listen to what they’re saying.”[] Reproductive Freedom for All stated that Harris’s selection of Walz has solidified “the most pro-reproductive freedom presidential ticket in US history.”[]
Minnesota has the country’s best healthcare
Walz also supports access to affordable medication. In 2020, he fought to ensure that Minnesotans could afford life-saving insulin. “Minnesotans should not die because they are forced to choose between putting food on the table and affording the drug they need to survive,” he said in a press release.[] “Despite resistance from the pharmaceutical industry, [this] hard-fought law will provide much-needed relief to Minnesotans struggling to afford their insulin.”
According to a study published last month, Minnesota's healthcare system has been ranked best in the country.[]
The state came in second for medical costs (with the fourth-lowest average out-of-pocket medical spending and the sixth-lowest average monthly insurance premium); sixth for access; and 11th for outcomes. More so, Minnesota is home to the most convenient care clinics per capita, and its dental visit costs are among the lowest in the country. It also has a low maternal mortality rate.
More Minnesotans have healthcare, as well, with the uninsured rate sitting at 3.8% vs the national rate of 7.7% (as of early 2023).[][]
In 2018, Walz said that he wanted to introduce a public healthcare option to the state—one that would augment the state’s MinnesotaCare.[] The option, which was criticized, may not come to fruition until 2027, if at all.
As Axios has stated, Walz is a favorite among progressives, and even though his dedication to healthcare initiatives is clear, “many of the efforts are still in the early stages and it remains to be seen how they pan out.”[]
What experts want Harris and Walz to focus on right now
Milica McDowell, a physical therapist, certified exercise physiologist, and VP of Product and Sales at Physitrack, tells MDLinx that she’d like to see the candidates address general health for all people.
“Activities like walking should be emphasized via public health initiatives to help people improve their physical health and reduce impacts of mental health disorders,” McDowell says. “There is incredibly compelling data on how walking is an antidote to our number-one killer, cardiovascular disease, yet most politicians take an approach [of] cutting costs for prescription medications or copays, which just makes Americans sicker.”
Other experts, including Raghav Seghal, whose research at Yale centers on human aging, believes that a focus on longevity is also critical. “In recent times, I have been actively engaged in advocacy efforts at the Capitol aimed at securing greater funding for longevity research,” he shares with MDLinx. “This initiative is driven by the anticipation of a notable rise in the aging demographic within the United States’ population. [...] At current rates, the US healthcare safety nets like Medicare and Medicaid are slated to run out of money as early as [the] mid-2030s because of increases [in] aging population care.”
Seghal says that research funds need to be targeted at “understanding the root causes of aging and building therapies for it.” Not, he notes, diseases caused by aging, such as cancer and neurodegenerative conditions. “Currently, only 0.2% of the NIH's budget is focused on aging research, when it is predominantly the driving factor for a majority of mortality and morbidity in the US,” Seghal concludes.
What this means for you
Vice President Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate for the 2024 election. Walz, who has been governor since 2018 and previously served six terms in Congress, is known for his focus on improving healthcare access. His track record includes advocating for veterans' mental health, supporting LGBTQ+ healthcare rights, and enhancing reproductive freedoms. Under his leadership, Minnesota has been recognized for having one of the best healthcare systems in the US. While some of Walz's proposed healthcare initiatives are still in early stages in Minnesota, his stance bodes well for the country as a whole.