Nurses Score Another Seat at Pennsylvania’s Budget Table
As submitted for publication in East Falls Now, Roxborough Review, and Chestnut Hill Local January 24, 2025
By State Rep Tarik Khan
Image: Rep Tarik Khan (D-Philadelphia) testifies before the PA House State Government Committee in June 2024.
The prognosis wasn’t good. Sheila was barely making it.
Despite working as a customer service agent for a major corporation, low wages meant Sheila needed two jobs to support her family. Food and groceries cost more than she imagined. Each month was a struggle to keep up with her car payments. She was also forking over more money than she ever had in housing costs after moving to a safer neighborhood where she and her kids could feel safe. Her daughter was beginning to plan her senior prom, which Sheila hoped to make extra special, especially given her good grades. Economically, Sheila was just scraping by.
But the biggest concern to me that day was Sheila’s health issues. She came to my health center that day reporting recurrent heart palpitations, dizziness, and occasional chest pain on top of her high blood pressure. She needed at least a stress test, and a comprehensive evaluation by a heart specialist. But when I referred Sheila, she opened her work calendar and look concerned. Because Pennsylvania has no paid family leave law, Sheila only got paid when she worked. She only had one day off on her calendar that she could even schedule another healthcare appointment. That day was three months away.
As a nurse practitioner at a Northwest Philadelphia health center I’ve met many “Sheilas” — patients who can’t do what’s best for their health because of issues beyond their control. A lack of affordable healthcare. Having to choose between taking care of their health or putting food on their table. A lack of affordable child care. My experiences as a nurse has shaped the laws I’ve focused on fighting for as a legislator. In my first term, all seven of the bills that I introduced and got passed into law focused on supporting the health and well-being, safety, housing affordability, and human rights of my patients and constituents.
And now my recent appointment to the Pennsylvania House’s influential Appropriations Committee will help give patients an even stronger voice in our government.
The Appropriations Committee works on completing the annual state budget. The committee reviews virtually every bill that will impact the state government in some way or form. As members of Appropriations, we meet with the heads of the state agencies to ensure departments are operating efficiently and meeting people’s needs.
I will join fellow nurse Rep. Bridget Kosierowski (D-Lackawanna) on Appropriations. Rep. Kosierowski, an operating room nurse who, like me, still practices part-time, told me that having a nurse’s perspective during budget negotiations is critical.
“As nurses, we see patients holistically,” Rep. Kosierowski told me. “We don’t just see what’s wrong with them physically, but all the influences that impact their health, including mental health and social stresses. And as legislators on the committee, we’re thinking about constituents and patients.”
Last term, as a member of appropriations, Rep. Kosierowski was in the room for discussions that helped deliver nearly $2 billion in additional funding for public schools (about $300 million of which went to Philadelphia Public Schools), sent tens of millions of dollars in additional funding to improve our roads, tripled the child tax credit, and expanded the property tax and rent rebate for older adults and people with disabilities. In addition to the tremendous social impact of these pieces of legislation, the improved school funding and money in the pockets of working families means better health outcomes and healthier communities.
As a new member, I’ll prioritize building on historic investments in public schools to close gaps and make Philadelphia schools destinations for families. As a nurse and researcher, I’ll fight for a steady and strong funding stream for SEPTA because I know robust public transit improves access to healthcare, healthy food, social connections, air quality, and fitness. I’ll be working with Rep. Roni Green to include a living wage increase in the budget, as higher wages are linked to better physical and mental health, reduced substance use, and fewer suicides. And, I’ll push for earned family leave to support working families caring for loved ones like Sheila while strengthening and growing our economy.
I saw Sheila at our clinic recently. Her heart issues are being treated, but our underlying broken system still remains. My new position on Appropriations will give me a stronger platform to elevate the voices of issues affecting my patients and constituents like the need for living wage and earned family leave. Because patients like Sheila deserve a place at Pennsylvania’s budget table.