Genant is 58 years old and was born in Maine, according to Ballotpedia. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Husson University in 1988 and has worked as a registered nurse, a home educator, and a conference coordinator with the Homeschool Alliance of North Carolina. She now owns Rasoi on the Run, a meal delivery service. She also served as a United States Army officer. She lives in Burke County.
Our Q&A with Pamela Genant
The candidate answered these questions in a combination of emailed responses and a phone interview with NC Health News.
What would be your plan for ensuring the future security/ strength of Medicare?
Bring everyone under one single payer healthcare plan. We do it with Medicare, the military and VA, we can do it for everyone…Especially now that people are living longer, we don’t have enough nursing home beds and retirement community beds. If you’re taking care of your mom at home, who has Alzheimer’s and is 70 years old, you don’t get compensation. There should be some compensation there for family taking care of family…Many people want to age in place as well, but Medicare doesn’t cover most home health services. Medicare should also cover dental, vision and hearing.
What would you support in Congress as a plan to help control health care/ pharmaceutical costs?
Single payer healthcare allows one entity to negotiate contracts. My husband’s a doctor – he sees it every day, where people are trying to decide how to balance their income with their expenditure for their medications or their bills from a hospital stay…We can expand on the Affordable Care Act to make it more affordable for more people and to cover things like more prescription drugs, more preventive health care.
Where do you stand on time limits for Medicaid and work requirements for the program?
Opposed to anything that would take healthcare away from those that need it. It is such an individual case-by-case situation. One blanket law, rule or requirement would find individuals/families in need being locked out. People should be able to eat, they should have a place to sleep, and they should have health care.
What can the federal government do to support rural hospitals?
Incentivize doctors and nurses, working, and living in rural areas. Fund the basics of healthcare for rural counties. This doesn’t mean a primary care physician that comes to town from an urban center, once a week, to see patients. This means healthcare, doctors and staff that live and are part of the rural communities. As a nurse and the wife of a Family Physician in a rural county, local basic healthcare is crucial for a healthy community…We need to stop closing and downsizing rural hospitals. That puts an additional burden on urban areas.
Where do you stand on restoring funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program?
YES! Most Americans think of broadband as a connection issue, not all areas have access to broadband internet. But for so many it is a cost issue. As we saw with COVID, telehealth is critical, which means broadband internet in every home is critical.
PFAS contamination is a country-wide issue; How do you balance public safety and business interests with this issue?
If you want a healthy community, and a strong environment the issue becomes clear. The food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe are all impacted negatively by PFAS and so they make their way into our communities and families, putting the health of the public at risk. If consumers are spending all their money on healthcare, and the health of our general public is degrading because of the PFAS in the environment, businesses are at risk as well.
Is the federal government ready for the next pandemic?
As a candidate I do not have access to this information specifically. I believe that with Biden’s focus on the virus and overturning Trump’s policies, and restoring our connection with the World Health Organization, we are in much better shape now than when COVID was first detected…I live in Burke County, which was the birthplace of the anti-mask and anti-vaccine movement. It’s hard to balance those issues with people’s freedoms versus public safety but I fall more on the side of public safety.
In 2009, Congress required more transparency from hospitals on their charitable work: Do you think the federal government should enforce stricter requirements for nonprofit hospitals to justify their tax exemptions? Why or why not?
This question is not a straight yes or no question. I would say yes, there should be more transparency. That may mean more oversight to ensure transparency, which means more government/agency employees to do the job. This is a budgetary question as well. Can we increase transparency without increasing oversight? If we need more oversight, who will do it, who will fund it? All hospitals should have to be more transparent than they are now.
Where do you stand on federal abortion limits? What gestational limits, if any, would you set?
Women’s healthcare decisions belong with women and their primary care providers. Government should stay out…As a nurse, I worked in the NICU and the neonatal nursery, and I’ve worked with women in all areas of their reproductive health care, and there are always situations you would never believe that will come up. It’s just never cut and dry when you’re talking about health care. You can restrict whatever you want, rich women are going to always have access.
How can Congress improve access to child care? What states are leading the way that you think could be a good federal model? Support for the EITC/ child care tax credit?
The American Rescue Plan expansion of the Child Tax Credit lifted thousands of children out of poverty. The expansion of the CTC under the American rescue Plan needs to be permanent…We need to start thinking of child care and elder care as part of infrastructure. The federal government can put money into it, as well as the state. Look at the surplus the state has, and yet they want to put it for vouchers for wealthy parents.
What steps would you take to improve access to mental health services and to address the opioid overdose crisis?
In 1995 my father, a Vietnam-era Veteran, died by suicide. Since that time, I have been a fierce advocate in the fight to end suicide and support Veterans. I have talked with so many families and found that mental health impacts every family. Mental health needs to be part of healthcare in general. Like going for your annual physical. We need to not just pay lip-service to mental healthcare but make it accessible for everyone. Improve services, including addiction services, and addiction training for staff and emergency personnel.