Georgia gubernatorial candidate Jason Esteves hosted a community town hall for DeKalb County residents at the Clarkston Community Center on Wednesday evening. The town hall focused on pressing issues in Georgia’s healthcare system and explored ways Esteves and his wife, Ariel Esteves, hope to address them. Community members from across DeKalb attended to hear from the two, ask questions, and express their concerns.
Jason Esteves has stated that one of his top priorities is expanding healthcare access for all Georgians. His website promises that he “will fight to lower the cost of insurance premiums by expanding Medicaid and getting more Georgians insured, lower the cost of prescription drugs, expand our rural hospitals and clinics, and secure much-needed resources for senior care across the state.”
“At the end of the day, healthcare is the most important thing, because I believe that without health, you can’t get wealth, right? Without health, your future becomes a lot harder,” Jason Esteves said. “So, I want to make sure that we’re investing in our healthcare system, starting by expanding access to Medicaid, but also making sure that we’re increasing the number of providers that we have in the state, making sure that we’re investing in things like maternal health care, that we’re investing in mental health support, so that ultimately we have a workforce that is healthy and able to participate In our economy and participate in our workforce so they can ultimately empower themselves economically.”
His platform is supported by his wife, a nurse for 20 years and a nurse practitioner for 15. She shared that over the last 10 years, she’s noticed that about 40% of what she does in a primary and urgent care setting centers on mental health and that we are also dealing with a maternal health crisis. She shared that one of the first things she wants Jason to do is reverse the abortion ban.
“We have less rights than we did years ago, so we have to get that back from 2022. When we think about women’s health issues that we have, there are things that we can do to ensure we’re listening to moms, we’re listening to women, and we’re putting things in place,” Ariel Esteves said. “As I’m looking at other states, there’s a ton of states that have some good programs; we’ll look at that to see if we can incorporate some of those initiatives.”
Photo by Laura Nwogu/The Atlanta Voice
The two discussed with residents the difficult conversations they’ve also had to have about their health insurance as small business owners and their personal experiences with caring for older parents as they struggle with their health.
Residents brought up issues such as expanding Medicaid for all, hospitals shutting down, nursing and caretaker shortages, maternal mortality rates, and funding for education. One of those community members was DeKalb County resident Denise Hightower, who has been a Georgia educator since 1976. Her main concern was improving early education and universal childcare.
“Before you get to healthcare, you’ve got to get teachers,” Hightower said. “A squeaky wheel makes the most noise. I’m an advocate for children, and I want a governor who is going to look out for children, because society isn’t looking out for children.”
Esteves said he understood that Georgia can do more to improve healthcare for its residents and that he is laser-focused on investing in healthcare and the education system.
“There’s no reason why people should not receive the health care that they need to be able to provide for themselves. The fact that we are spending so much money on basic Band-Aids rather than investing more time and resources on the front end to avoid the need for them in the first place is a problem we face not only in healthcare but also in education. And as governor, I want to make sure that we solve those root causes so that ultimately, we address the issue, but we also make it more efficient.”
“I agree that now is the time to be bold and do what we can to ensure that we’re investing in our communities.”