Liz Canada 0:11

You're listening to New Hampshire Has Issues, and I am your host, Liz Canada. Every day this week, there's a new mini sode with a candidate running for the first congressional district here in New Hampshire. I have a lot more detail about these conversations in the primary prep episode, in case maybe you missed it or if you need some reminders. Quick overview though. For each of these mini sodes, there are two rules. Rule number one, the candidate gets three minutes to answer each question. And I chose three minutes because that's typically how much time I get when I go to the state house and testify in a public hearing to make my entire case. So the candidates get three minutes. The second rule is that there's no negative talk about other candidates running for this seat. Again, more information in the primary prep episode. New Hampshire has issues, does not make endorsements. Neither do I. But I do support getting the information you need to make the best decision for yourself so that you also can vote on Tuesday, September 8th in the New Hampshire state primary. In the episode description, I have information about checking your voter registration, finding your polling location, looking at a sample ballot that you will have at the primary, and finding your city or town clerk's information in case you need to contact them. If you would like to support New Hampshire Has Issues Podcast, please visit patreon.com slash NH has issues, and you can become a supporter for as little as $5 a month. Thank you so much for listening, and now on to the episode with Stefany Shaheen.

Welcome to the show, Stefany Shaheen

Liz Canada 1:50

Thank you so much for being on New Hampshire Has Issues. Stefany Shaheen, I'm so excited to talk with you today.

Stefany Shaheen 1:57

Thank you so much, Liz, for having me. This is going to be great.

Liz Canada 2:00

I'm really, really looking forward to it. So thank you for taking time. I know it's busy out there on the campaign trail talking to folks. So just to recap the rules, when I go to the State House, I get three minutes to make my entire case on whatever I'm talking about. So the questions will be in a similar way. I'll ask you the question. You'll have three minutes to respond. I might have some follow-up questions. I sometimes take notes. I've got a pencil behind my ear for that very reason.

Stefany Shaheen 2:27

Sounds great.

Best pitch: why should someone vote for you in the primary?

Stefany Shaheen 2:28

Liz Canada 2:28

All right, so Stefany Shaheen, you're running for Congress. You clearly want to represent the people of New Hampshire, specifically of the first congressional district. Give me your best pitch as to why someone should vote for you in the primary on Tuesday, September 8th.

Stefany Shaheen 2:47

First of all, Liz, thank you so much for having me and for this opportunity. And I think this is the most pressing question facing voters between now and September 8th. So I'm grateful for the chance to answer. You know, the fact is, I know how to fight for people. And I believe now more than ever, we have pressing, urgent fights ahead that we need to be focused on with a tenacity and relentlessness that I know how to bring. I learned how to fight, frankly, first when my daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 18 years ago. She's actually so much of my inspiration in this campaign. When RFK Jr. became Secretary of Health and Human Services, I knew I had to stand up and fight back. That's, you know, those are the those are the fights and the energy I believe we need to bring from fights when I was on the city council tackling PFAS contamination in our water. I fought to build a small business in the district and navigate that during a really rough time when COVID hit. Fought in my community for issues that matter from inf local infrastructure projects to uh, you know, public safety. So right now we've got a lot of fights ahead of us in this country. People can't afford to live here. They can't afford health care. The corruption we're seeing is rampant. And I believe New Hampshire voters need and want a fighter who's willing to go down to Washington and make change. And we've got it, that's got to be our number one uh focus. So, you know, I'll just share ultimately fighting for health care and fighting against the insurance companies and the drug companies has been a cause of my life for the last 18 years. When I see Donald Trump basically lining his own pockets to the tune of $2 billion, uh personally profiting from the White House when New Hampshire families can't afford health care, it inspires and motivates me in a way that's hard to describe, uh, the sense of urgency I feel about what we need to do to win these fights and to make change for people.

Liz Canada 4:52

Just to pull on a thread there for a moment about fighting for health care. You know, I've had a few episodes about Medicaid and about the cost of health care and about you know, having insurance and still being expensive. What has it looked like for you to try to fight against these big systems? Like what has it actually meant and uh maybe some advice for folks who are in that right now who are struggling with prescription costs and everything? Like, what has it meant for you? What does it look like for you?

Stefany Shaheen 5:20

Well, first, it's unconscionable to me that we have people who are having to fight to get the care doctors say they need. And I hear from people every day, people who can't get a prescription when they're preparing for chemo because the insurance company is denying that that prescription. Uh, I hear from people who've lost their Medicare Advantage plan and now don't have vision, dental, and hearing coverage. In our family, um, just you know, just three months ago, my daughter was denied a prescription that she's been taking for three years because the insurance company is using AI now to find new reasons to deny coverage for prescriptions and come up with new excuses for needing prior authorizations. So she had to walk out of the pharmacy, not able to take home a medication she needs to manage her blood sugars. Uh luckily she was working from home that week because I was literally laying in bed spoon-fitting her sugar in the middle of the night because she didn't have access to this medication. And when they when she asked, you know, what why would it not be covered? And the pharmacist could only say, I have no idea. All I can should tell you is that the insurance company is saying you need a prior authorization. And she said, Well, what happens if I have to pay for it out of pocket? And the insurance company said, I'm sorry, the pharmacist said it would be $3,600 uh for this prescription. So, you know, it's it's outrageous. It's outrageous that in New Hampshire we're paying sometimes four times as much for the same prescriptions that our Canadian neighbors are paying. And these are the kinds of fights we need people to understand and be able to go down and make a difference for people. Um, and you know, I've I've been doing this for 18 years. I've I've seen the ways in which the insurance companies have manipulated and and basically hijacked uh so much of the care doctors say people need.

What is THE issue you want to tackle if you’re elected?

Liz Canada 7:03

It's a sort of a similar question, but but maybe not. So the podcast is called New Hampshire Has Issues. Uh so if you're elected to Congress, what is the issue you're most prepared to tackle? Or maybe the question should really be like, what is the issue you think needs to be tackled first, whether or not you have the experience doing it already? What's the what's the issue?

Stefany Shaheen 7:28

Well, for me, and I believe for New Hampshire families, it's health care. I mean, if you look at just what's happened in the last year. So starting with the Trump budget cuts to Medicaid, the fact that we haven't been able to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which means 12,000 New Hampshire families now are without health insurance that they had last year, plus the 77,000 seniors in New Hampshire who are no longer able to access Medicare Advantage plans because those plans have left the state. The fact is, New Hampshire families are struck with, you know, this reality of not being able to afford health care or try to make decisions between whether they can afford their rent and whether they can afford health insurance. We know that 40% of Americans are living with some kind of medical debt. And in this country, it's wrong to be an accident away or a diagnosis away from bankruptcy, from financial ruin. Um, I'm I I've seen, again, seen this firsthand, and I have a robust plan for what we need to do to tackle health care, starting with, you know, we need, we know the system isn't working, it's broken, it needs to be fixed. I'm for Medicare for All, Universal Healthcare, you know, any way in which we can rebuild the system. And I know we cannot wait to deliver relief for people. So I've called on expansion of Medicare to include vision, dental, and hearing coverage. I've called for pulling back the cuts that were made by this administration on Medicaid and extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits. I've called for banning the use of AI from health insurance companies relative to making eligibility decisions or decisions on whether prescription drugs are going to be covered. And ultimately we've got to break up the Wall Street monopolies that control our health care system. I mean, we now are seeing these monopolies not only own the pharmacies, the plan benefits managers, and they now are owning the hospitals and the doctor's practices. Um, you know, we we've got to get care back into health care and allow our doctors and the experts to decide with people who are in need of that care the best course of treatment, not the insurance companies. So all those things you said, extremely important.

Liz Canada 9:40

I found myself nodding along throughout. But the question then is, how do you do it once you get there? Like what is going to be the way that you make this? You know, I heard you say, you know, the long-term changes system overhaul entirely, and that families need people need relief now. So how do you do it once you get there? What is your plan to actually get things done if you're elected?

Stefany Shaheen 10:05

Well, first, you know, we don't even have to wait because there are two pieces of legislation right now that we could pass that have bipartisan support. One is Senator Sanders' bill to expand Medicare, uh, to include Vision Dental and Hearing. The other is a bill that is focused on bringing down prescription drug prices. Um we already have vehicles we can move on right away, and I think we should be doing that already. I don't think we need to wait until January. Let's do it now. But if but if we have to wait, and uh then then I will be the first one to champion it in the House. Um so in terms of you know the other systemic changes, we know everybody who's part of this system, every American knows how broken it is. If you listen to providers of care, if you listen to hospital administrators, if you listen to um, you know, family members who are struggling to advocate for the care their peop their loved ones need, everybody understands that it's broken. And I believe the the cost pressures we're feeling now are such that we will have a reckoning. There will be the political will to affect and make change here and to do things differently. We got to rebuild the system. Um and you know, it takes legislation and it's gonna take uh, you know, building consensus and coalition. But I, you know, I see that that's support and I think we can do it. We've got to win a majority in the House, and that's part of why I feel so motivated in this race. Uh, because if we had a majority in the House, we wouldn't have, for example, the cuts to Medicaid, because we would have been able to have the votes to fight back against that budget. We wouldn't have the tariffs that have wreaked havoc on so many of our small businesses in New Hampshire. We wouldn't be in the war right now with Iran. We wouldn't have been able to, you know, we wouldn't have seen the kind of disgusting corruption we're seeing out of the White House because we would have had Congress doing its job to hold this administration accountable. So we've got to win a majority so we can bring change for families.

Liz Canada 11:55

All right. So

What do you wish people knew about you as a person?

Liz Canada 11:56

last question, not political. Yes. You're out there, you're talking to folks, there's the ads, there's the mailers, there's all sorts of things during a campaign of any type. What do you wish people knew about you that just doesn't fit in any of that? Like, who are you as a person? Not that you're not a person in all these answers, but like, what do you wish people like really knew about you? What would maybe surprise someone to know about you?

Stefany Shaheen 12:24

I so I love the question. I guess I would start by saying, um, you know, I think in a the context of a campaign, authenticity is so important. And I think people are often skeptical is like, is this really who you are? And I think what I wish people would know is that what you see is what you get. That, you know, I'm I'm the same person on the campaign trail that I am at home with my kids or in my community or coaching a high school volleyball team or um, you know, working on the city council um or in my small business. And I think that's to me, that's so important because at the end of the day, you want to trust that the people who are seeking to serve are there for the right reasons, trying to do the right thing. You won't always agree and you won't always agree on the sh a shared sense of priorities necessarily. But I think if you know you can trust the person to be honest and straightforward and you know what you're gonna get, it goes a long way to helping, you know, connect and and and earn trust. And so that's really what I what I would hope. And I also think I should say, probably because I've, you know, grown up here, born and raised here, um, and and that also puts a very high premium on making sure people know what they, you know, that I am who I was when I was a kindergartner going to Oyster River and uh and a high school volleyball coach coaching kids at Portsmouth High.

Liz Canada 13:48

So incredible. Stefany,

Stefany Shaheen 13:50

Liz.

Liz Canada 13:50

you did all the things, you kept them to the limit. You answered all the questions.

Stefany Shaheen 13:54

You made it very easy. I appreciate it.

Liz Canada 13:57

I try. I try to make it as accessible as possible, and I really appreciate you taking time. And you got the countdown to the primary.

Stefany Shaheen 14:06

Sprint to the finish.

Liz Canada 14:07

Sprint to the finish. And we'll

NH Primary Reminders

Liz Canada 14:09

just remind the primary here in New Hampshire, Tuesday, September 8th. So check your voter registration, check to find out your polling location, all those things. I'll have the links in the episode show notes. Stefany, thank you so much. Good luck out there.

Stefany Shaheen 14:24

Thank you, Liz. Really appreciate the time and the opportunity.