Kermit Jones was born in Michigan. Jones served in the U.S. Navy from 2005 to 2009. He earned degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1997, Duke University School of Law in 2005, and Duke University School of Medicine in 2005.
When it comes to healthcare, even if they have insurance, Americans pay too much and receive too little. After treating over 20,000 patients throughout my career, I’ve seen first-hand where our healthcare system fails patients. In Congress, I’ll work to make sure our healthcare system puts the needs of patients first by addressing the drivers of cost, improving the quality of care, and increasing access to doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers.
Funding for the public health component of our healthcare system has remained stagnant for decades, and the price of medicines and prescription drugs have skyrocketed. As a result, Americans pay more for medical treatment than any other developed country in the world. In Congress, I’ll fight to implement common sense proposals to lower our healthcare costs by empowering Medicare and Medicaid to negotiate prescription drug prices, and creating a public option health insurance plan that caps out-of-pocket expenses.
I’ll work to tackle the lack of access to doctors and medical treatment in rural areas because every American should have access to the best healthcare in the world, regardless of their zip code. In Congress, I’ll also work to secure federal funding to increase the number of doctors and nurses in rural areas and improve the reliability and access of telemedicine by ensuring that 100% of Americans have access to broadband internet.
Healthcare is a unique service that should always put a patient’s needs first. Throughout my career, I’ve witnessed too many patients be denied coverage by their insurance companies for life-saving screenings and medical treatments, all while those same insurance companies post record profits and pay their executives millions of dollars in bonuses. I’ll take on companies that gouge patients and families when they are in most need. I’ll sponsor legislation that will provide better oversight to ensure patients’ premiums are directed to better their health, not to increase the already bloated bonuses for healthcare executives. No one should be allowed to excessively profit off the illness or treatment of a patient.
In Congress, I won’t stop until every American has quality, affordable healthcare.
Right now, thousands of households throughout the Sierras have no access to high-speed internet. The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that access to broadband is the dividing line between the haves and the have nots. Too many good people of CA-4 have been deprived of the broadband technology that can help keep them safe and informed when the next pandemic comes. As part of a larger infrastructure package to ensure that our roads, like Highway 50 and 49, are in the best condition, I’ll also work to secure funding for 100% broadband coverage for CA-4 and make sure it is affordable for all Americans.
Nearly a quarter of the homeless in our country live in California. While we have some of the most beautiful land in America, we also have some of the most expensive. I support the President’s efforts to reduce regulations and exclusionary zoning laws that are driving up the price of houses and keeping people out of homes. In Congress, I’ll also fight to make sure a portion of the $213 billion the President plans to invest in our country’s housing system comes to help families in our district.
Climate change is a challenge we must rise to, and an opportunity we can’t pass up.
With the drought and fires getting worse every year, we see the devastating impacts of climate change every day in California. In order to better protect those who live in fire risk areas, I’ll sponsor legislation in Congress that would enact a federal fire insurance program for existing structures.
To lower the risk of fires, I’ll work with the U.S. Forest Service, CAL Fire, and local groups to ensure they get the funding necessary to clear millions of fire-risk acres. I’ll sponsor legislation to support in-district biomass power plants to produce clean, local power. I’ll also fight for tax benefits for microgrids and to help people harden their homes against wildfires.
In America, a child’s zip code shouldn’t determine their destiny.
For many families like mine, good schools and affordable colleges are the keys to economic mobility and a better life. But now, classroom sizes are rising and the student loan crisis is a huge financial burden on families. We need to rethink K-12 education, college, and vocational training so that every student obtains the skills they need to succeedâ at a price they can afford.
In Congress, I’ll advocate for affordable paths to college degrees and investments in trade schools so that every child and adult has a path to a well-paying career.
Building a strong economy is a team effort.
One of the main things you learn in the military is that we’ll only succeed if we all do our part. Unfortunately, our economy is leaving many Americans behind. The costs of child care, healthcare, housing, and utilities are all rising, while wages stay stagnant.
In Congress, I’ll fight to make big corporations pay taxes to support the economy and country, while working to level the playing field for small businesses, so that we can invest in our communities.
We should fight COVID and infectious disease as a community. We are all in this together.
When I see a patient struggling to breathe with COVID, or I comfort a family member who has lost a loved one, politics never enters the conversation. Compassion and empathy, service and understanding define our discussion.
When we fought the Soviets, when we confronted terrorism, and when we came together after 9/11, it wasn’t based upon which news station one tuned into or which TV talking head someone followed. We understood the external threat to our freedom, to our way of life, and to our loved ones and communities. COVID is no different.
This virus doesn’t pick sides. It doesn’t decide to infect someone because they are a Democrat or Republican. It simply sickens and kills.
We’ll win this fight through empathy, listening, and trusting each other as Americans to fight for each other. And we’ll lose this fight, if we don’t.
We need a citizen-led government, not career politicians.
It’s time for a new generation of leaders in Congress who are willing to stand up to special interests and party leaders to do what’s right.
We need election reform with term limits, voting rights protections, and an end to gerrymandering. Voters should choose who represents them, instead of politicians choosing their voters.
My opponent has been part of his party machine for over 40 years. It’s time for a fresh perspective.
Over the course of my seventeen years as a physician, I have always put my patients first. It is an honor and privilege to have the training to be able to help people when they are in their greatest need. I have helped deliver babies. I have prayed with families while their loved ones passed away in their arms. And I have also helped women who would have died without an abortion. I have seen families and women struggle with decisions of abortion and reproductive health.
These, and other decisions regarding a woman's body, should be hers alone, with the advice of her healthcare provider. The exam room is no place for politicians and the government to be.
Every day I am in Congress, if you give me the honor of serving you, I will fight to make sure that women have access to reproductive health, that they can make their personal health decisions free of political interference and I will never play games or be coy with these serious issues for political gain. I will always fight to protect a woman’s constitutional right to make their own personal health decisions.
Climate change is a challenge we must rise to, and an opportunity we can’t pass up.
With the drought and fires getting worse every year, we see the devastating impacts of climate change every day in California. In order to better protect those who live in fire risk areas, I’ll sponsor legislation in Congress that would enact a federal fire insurance program for existing structures.
In my first term in office, I will sponsor legislation for a federal fire insurance plan, patterned after the federal flood insurance plan administered by FEMA. The plan will be available to residents in high and medium fire risk areas of the country, specifically Western U.S. states with higher fire risk, e.g., California, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. The plan will have the following framework:
Insured will be able to insure their homes at current local rates of fire insurance but will be able to lower premiums by taking advantage of federal economic incentives to lower their individual and community fire risk. Signing up for these incentives and performing the duties tied to them, along with proper U.S. government forest management of federal lands may reduce fire insurance premiums by up to 40%.
Insured will be allowed to use tax breaks and incentives of up to $10,000 in one year (or broken up over three years) to put toward creating 100 feet of defensible space around their homes and other measures to lower their risk of fire.
Federal government will work with state governments to ensure that local companies that work in defensive space creation will not be able to raise rates for fuel reduction more than the average of the last three years of cost to as to mitigate the risk of price gouging after program creation.
When more than 30% of residents in a community are insured under the plan and take advantage of the home hardening / defensible space tax break, the community insurance rate will decrease by an additional 10%-15%
Congressional funding for the federal insurance plan will also include 3 to 1 increased funding for the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management fuel reduction programs to hire more staff help lower fire risk through prescribed burns, mechanical thinning and biomass production.
Training programs and MOUs between U.S. Forest Service and Calfire to create collaborative programs to better identify and assess risk of fires on federal lands.
We should fight COVID and infectious disease as a community. We are all in this together.
When I see a patient struggling to breathe with COVID, or I comfort a family member who has lost a loved one, politics never enters the conversation. Compassion and empathy, service and understanding define our discussion.
When we fought the Soviets, when we confronted terrorism, and when we came together after 9/11, it wasn’t based upon which news station one tuned into or which TV talking head someone followed. We understood the external threat to our freedom, to our way of life, and to our loved ones and communities. COVID is no different.
The COVID-19 pandemic devastated not only our nation, but our economy and the global community. The reality of the pandemic also showed how woefully underprepared our country is for pandemic prevention and control. COVID-19 has killed over 600,000 Americans and cost this country over $16 trillion. Unfortunately, the experts say this will not be the last pandemic we face. It is crucial that we do all we can to prepare and protect ourselves against the next potential outbreak.
While in Congress, I will push for investment in pandemic prevention research, improved supply lines for PPE, safer public spaces, faster, more accurate testing and effective therapeutics and vaccines for known pathogens.
This virus doesn’t pick sides. It doesn’t decide to infect someone because they are a Democrat or Republican. It simply sickens and kills.