Nurse Legislators: Issues and Prospects

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For many years, nurses were not a part of a community health discussion on a legislative level, creating a communication gap between lawmakers and the end-users of health services. However, at the beginning of the previous decade, the US House of Representatives created an opportunity for RNs to become community health advocates and promote relevant issues. A prime example of such a successful legislature is the work of Lauren Underwood. Lauren Underwood is a member of the Democratic Party and a representative from Illinois’s 14th District, being now a part of the 116th US Congress (“Biography,” n.d.). One of the most remarkable accomplishments of Lauren Underwood is her collaborative work on the NextLevel Health health coverage plan based on the Medicaid program, which was later acquired by Illinois’s subsidiary of Meridian, Inc. (Centene Corporation, 2020). The significance of the initiative included not only the popularization of the Medicaid plan coverage but also the promotion of community education and reaching out to patients throughout the state.

Currently, Underwood is invested in the development of community projects. For example, Underwood’s collaborative Community Project Funding initiative allows Congress members to require direct funding for community health endeavors that extrapolate on every aspect of daily living, including not only health but social security, transportation, and infrastructure (“Community Project Funding,” n.d.). One of the latest bills sponsored by Lauren Underwood is the Child Suicide Prevention and Lethal Means Safety Act, which stands for the initiative to reduce the suicide rates among the vulnerable population of kids and teenagers (US Congress, 2021). Hence, cooperation with nurses is vital for state and federal legislature, as the experience and expertise provided by nurses present invaluable insights into the current state of public health in the community.