Her Campus is on tour! In partnership with Future Caucus and DoSomething, the Her Campus Voices: Election 2024 Tour is traveling the country to host conversations with Gen Zers to get their insights and opinions as we approach the November election. Our most recent stop? Her Conference — here’s what members of the Her Campus community had to say about healthcare legislation.
Healthcare is consistently a top issue in United States elections, with concerns about everything from insurance costs to the right to bodily autonomy dominating conversations on how people plan to vote. This election season, it’s no different. In fact, candidates’ arguments about healthcare in the U.S. are repeated so often in debates and campaign ads that it sometimes begins to sound like a tired point — but for some Gen Zers, it’s the main issue that’s getting them to the polls.
To get a better understanding of how the youngest generation of eligible voters feels about healthcare in the U.S. and how their views on it impact the way they plan to vote come Election Day in November (and in future elections), Her Campus and DoSomething.org teamed up to ask them in DoSomething.org’s Soundoff! Storybooth at Her Campus’s 2024 Her Conference. Here’s what they had to say.
These Gen Zers Want Better Healthcare For Themselves & Others
Having leaders who expand and support healthcare is critically important for Gen Zers with chronic illnesses and other underrepresented health issues.
“Chronic illness awareness is such a huge thing,” Mo*, a 21-year-old mental health advocate from Georgia, says. “It definitely influences my thoughts about not only this election, but any sort of local election going on.”
Mo believes that the issue of healthcare for those with chronic illnesses and other oftentimes overlooked health issues should be a more widely discussed topic during elections, and that it’s something voters should take into account.
Nyjah*, 20, is also an advocate for making healthcare more accessible for those who need it. According to Nyjah, the opportunity to live a healthy lifestyle should be available to everybody who wants it.
Nyjah was diagnosed with post-COVID tight postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, also known as POTS, and was even hospitalized in June due to her symptoms and her inability to receive adequate treatment with her healthcare. The stress of medical bills and paying for procedures take quite a toll, and Harris knows that she isn’t the only one struggling.
I definitely will be voting for whichever candidate I feel can best accommodate the needs of healthcare and the financial aspects of healthcare
“This is the case for many people throughout the country, throughout the entire world,” she says. “This is something that seriously needs to be talked about because it is putting an impact on other people negatively.”
In Nyjah’s opinion, it is essential for health insurance to be more accessible and needs to cover a wider range of healthcare needs.
“I feel like a lot of insurances are very limiting, especially due to the price of it,” she says. “It gets extremely expensive and those costs can get overwhelming, especially as someone [who is] young.”
Because healthcare has become such an important issue to Nyjah, it’s no surprise that her opinions about it have made their way into her politics.
“I definitely will be voting for whichever candidate I feel can best accommodate the needs of healthcare and the financial aspects of healthcare,” she says.
Reproductive Rights Are A Huge Factor In Many Gen Zers’ Healthcare-Driven Election Decisions
Claire*, a 21-year-old survival of sexual assault, says it’s upsetting that her and her peers’ reproductive rights are at stake. “There should be no questions asked in regards to birth control pills and abortion, especially in the circumstances of sexual assault,” she says.
The biggest thing that someone can do to really create a change is vote
Rachel*, 21, is also a firm believer that people should be able to make their own choices about their bodies. “If having a child is not in the cards for you and you wouldn’t be able to financially support that child, I feel like anyone should have the right to terminate a pregnancy,” she says.
Although Rachel knows local involvement and advocacy is important, she also knows one thing for sure: “The biggest thing that someone can do to really create a change is vote,” she says.
Claire shares a similar sentiment, and despite dismay over the state of reproductive rights in the country, she has hope for the future.
“Moving forward, I’m optimistic,” she says. “Our generation makes me very hopeful. I’m hoping that will reflect in the upcoming election.”
*Last names were omitted to maintain participants’ privacy.