Health and Health Care

An Act establishing peer-run respite centers throughout the Commonwealth

Peer respites provide effective alternatives to conventional mental health interventions for people experiencing a mental health crisis, especially for people whose needs are not met in traditional mental health clinical settings. My bill requires a peer respite center in each county, including at least two centers to specifically serve members of the LGBTQIA+ community and two centers to specifically serve Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color. The centers will be staffed and managed by trained individuals who have lived experience with the mental health system and who identify with the communities that their center serves.

An Act expanding loan repayment assistance for primary care physicians

Massachusetts has a primary care crisis, driven by a significant shortage of primary care physicians and providers across the Commonwealth. A 2025 report revealed that employment in physician office settings in Massachusetts has only increased by 1 percent since 2019, compared to more than 10 percent growth nationally. Relatedly, Massachusetts residents reported that they experienced worsening access to primary care each year from 2019 to 2023. To help address the provider shortage, my bill expands the eligibility criteria of the MA Repay Program, the state’s main medical loan repayment program, to help additional providers qualify for loan repayment assistance and to encourage them to enter and remain in the primary care workforce. 

An Act protecting patients and health care workers from exposure to surgical smoke

“Surgical smoke” is the term for the vapor produced by the destruction of tissue by lasers or electrosurgical devices during surgery. Surgical smoke can contain toxic gasses and vapors such as benzene, hydrogen cyanide, and formaldehyde, as well as dead and live material, including blood tissue particles, bacteria, and viruses — posing serious health risks to nurses, surgeons, and other operating room personnel. My bill requires all hospitals and freestanding ambulatory surgical facilities to use smoke evacuation systems to protect against exposure to these toxic contaminants and plumes.

An Act providing for safe and consensual sensitive examinations

There is growing concern regarding informed consent and patient safety during pelvic and other sensitive exams. While many providers have stopped this harmful practice, some providers practice non-consensual sensitive exams on unconscious patients in clinical settings, often for teaching purposes. In other instances, patients have reported being coerced into receiving sensitive examinations by their providers. To protect patient safety and bodily autonomy, my bill prohibits doctors, medical students, and other health care providers from performing intimate exams on anesthetized or unconscious patients without first obtaining written informed consent, unless the exam is required for the patient’s care. My bill also gives patients the right to request a medical chaperone during intimate exams and requires that providers notify patients of this option.

An Act regulating the sale of hemp products to protect public health

Hemp is a cannabis plant that naturally contains cannabidiol (CBD) and less than 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of marijuana. Hemp is used to create a multitude of consumer products including paper, rope, linen, textiles, and soaps, as well as ingestible and topical CBD products. Recent scientific advancements have allowed manufacturers to derive synthetic chemicals that mimic THC from hemp and create intoxicating, psychoactive hemp products that currently skirt legal boundaries. These products have been found in gas stations and convenience stores across the Commonwealth, packaged in wrappers that appeal to children and teenagers, sending children and adults alike to the hospital. My bill bans synthetic hemp products and ensures that all ingestible hemp products containing CBD are regulated and sold only in licensed cannabis dispensaries. My bill also clarifies state laws dealing with hemp to ensure public safety, provide clear guidelines for businesses and local boards of health, facilitate equitable market conditions for Massachusetts hemp farmers, and ensure consistent enforcement across jurisdictions.

An Act relative to end of life options

As Senate Chair of the Public Health Committee for four years, I had the opportunity to thoroughly research medical aid-in-dying and listen deeply to Commonwealth residents. The Committee heard harrowing stories from people whose relatives suffered during their last days and weeks of life and about the need to provide a voluntary medical option for terminally-ill people to control the timing and manner of their death. My bill allows someone who is terminally ill to choose a dignified, peaceful death by requesting medication from a doctor that may be self-administered at a time of their own choosing, should suffering become unbearable. This bill safeguards patients and medical professionals, affords dying people autonomy and compassion during the most difficult time, and protects potentially vulnerable people from coercion.

An Act relative to menstrual product ingredient disclosure

Menstrual products are used by millions of people in the Commonwealth, with the average menstruating person using more than ten thousand of these products over their lifetime. There is growing concern about chemical exposure from certain components and additives in menstrual products with recent studies uncovering PFAS chemicals and heavy metals, including arsenic and lead, in various products. Current federal Food and Drug Administration guidelines do not require manufacturers of menstrual products to disclose their ingredients, limiting the ability of consumers to make informed choices and of researchers to understand the effects of sustained exposure. My bill requires ingredient disclosure on any menstrual product sold within the Commonwealth.

An Act supporting family caregivers

Family caregivers provide care and support for a relative with a physical or mental health problem, allowing their loved one to receive dignified care and remain in their home. While providing this essential care and service, family caregivers often experience hardships including a loss of income if they have to leave their job, workplace discrimination, and their own mental and physical health challenges. My bill creates new benefits and policies to support family caregivers and their loved ones, including providing a tax credit to family caregivers, allowing spouses to be paid as caregivers by MassHealth, expanding unemployment insurance eligibility to people who leave their job to care for a relative, protecting family caregivers from workforce discrimination, and creating a permanent advisory council on family caregiving. 

An Act to address medical debt through hospital financial assistance reform

Though nonprofit hospitals are required by federal law to have a written financial assistance policy for their patients, the law gives hospitals discretion in determining their own eligibility criteria and assistance amounts. As such, when uninsured or underinsured Massachusetts residents go to a hospital, there is no guarantee that they will receive financial assistance or that the financial assistance they do receive will be the same at every hospital. In 2023, one in eight Massachusetts residents reported holding family medical debt and one in seven reported trouble paying family medical bills. My bill standardizes financial assistance policies across all hospitals by establishing a standard eligibility floor, standard discounts, and a uniform financial assistance application. 

An Act to reduce incidence and death from pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is estimated to be the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Massachusetts in 2025. In 2019, I served on a Special Commission to Study Pancreatic Cancer, which was created to identify areas of unmet need in pancreatic cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, as well as to make recommendations for additional legislation or support to meet these needs. My bill follows the Commission’s recommendations to establish a comprehensive pancreatic cancer initiative within the Department of Public Health to provide coordinated pancreatic cancer prevention, screening, education, and support programs.

An Act to support equal access to community care for elders and persons with disabilities

Providing care to people in their homes allows them to live with dignity and receive care in the community, while reducing strain on an already over-stressed nursing home system. But current law makes seniors and people with disabilities ineligible for home care if their income goes just a penny above the income limit — a policy often called the “cliff effect.” My bill allows otherwise eligible people to receive MassHealth home and community-based care even if their income is over the program income limit, if they pay a premium equal to their income above the limit.