Debbie Dingell Advocates for Healthcare at Saline's Tenth Annual Mayors Conference

By Carleen Nelson-Nesvig, STN Writer

The Tenth Annual Mayors Conference for Saline was held on Friday August 18th, 2023. On hand was special guest Debbie Dingell (D-MI 6th District) who shared what she was working on in Washington in regards to healthcare.

Dingell began her remarks by expressing gratitude to Saline Mayor Brian Marl for guiding her in her new role. Last year, she reached out to Brian to better understand the community. He offered invaluable advice on how to engage with the city's needs. One of the primary concerns he raised was about the sewers, a topic also touched upon today by Brian Rubel from Tetra Tech. In conclusion, Dingell praised Mayor Marl for his contributions to the city, acknowledging him not only as an impactful leader but also as a cherished friend.

Other highlights from Dingell’s speech included:

“I'm really proud, quite frankly, to represent all of Washtenaw County, which is the first time all of these counties have one member of Congress focused on all of you in decades. It's been like five decades so I'm really proud of that.”

“I'm really focused on this [next] matter so that you know what it really my number one agenda in the Congress. The baby boomer generation is coming of age, but we’ve got a lot of energy, spirit, bite and life in us and we want to make sure that you are able to live long and healthy and be able to do what do you want to do…You're going to have access to the health care that you need, and that means that there are a lot of things that we got to fight for. First of all to protect Social Security, Medicare, period, and I'm not going to let anybody cut it.”

“I don't know how many of you know this, but my father-in-law was actually one of the authors of Social Security. I am not going to let anybody hurt it. Joe Biden did an excellent job. I don't care which party you're in at the State of the Union. Two out of every three seniors that's their main source of income, so we have to protect that. I'm also very focused on getting hearing, dental care for people on social security.”

Dingell referencing her late husband Rep. John Dingell, “John had hearing issues. When I finally got him to get a hearing aid that's when I learned that Medicare didn't cover hearing aids. We were lucky enough. We had insurance, but the doctor talked to me and said ‘You will lose this hearing and when you can't hear, how isolated you will become?’ So that was the very first bill I introduced when I went into Congress is to have a social security cover hearing aids.”

And how does Dingell feel about Dental care? “This last two years, I had a screaming match at a democratic rally over dental care. So that's one of the things that's one of my number one priorities, too.“

“I'm very focused on home and community-based care... If you get sick, you should be able to stay in your own home in the community that you want to be in and to try to get the care that you need. And Joe Biden has said to me ten different times that we were going to get this done. We're going to get it over the finish line, and I'm not going to stop until I get it done. “

“Lastly, we're lowering the cost of prescription drugs. I mean, Joe Biden got it. I mean, we all did. We have voted on it, and we had to fight for it. We're here to secure prices which should lower prescription drug prices a lot.”

“We're going to fight so that you've got the life that you want, and that we're going to keep you healthy. And we're going to have fun and we're going to make a difference too.”