1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,240 So I'm going to let you take away. 2 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:04,000 I'll just jump right into it. 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:08,880 Hi again, so I'm Dale Frey, and I'm running for 4 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:10,000 Senate District 30. 5 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:11,520 Uh, first let me introduce myself. 6 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:14,400 I graduated in software engineering at George Mason University, which 7 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:16,160 is quite far from here, but it's close to Washington, 8 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:16,560 D.C. 9 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:18,160 So I was very lucky to get my first job 10 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:20,240 out of college working at the headquarters of the Department 11 00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:21,440 of Education in DC. 12 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:23,680 I since I've built a career working with the government. 13 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:24,880 I'm a federal contractor. 14 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:27,200 I've worked at the GSA, the US Geological Survey, and 15 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:30,240 currently I work for ANOLA, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, 16 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:33,520 where I assist uh climate scientists reporting on the effects 17 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:35,280 of climate change on our economy. 18 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:36,960 Um while I was up there, I met a woman 19 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:37,440 from Texas. 20 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:39,920 We all know Texas girls come back home, so we 21 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:41,280 came back down here. 22 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:44,640 Uh also got excavated as her father got stage three 23 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:46,480 cancer, which is gonna segue a little bit into one 24 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:48,480 of the many reasons I'm running for office. 25 00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:51,200 We live in a broken healthcare system, and this is 26 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:53,920 terrible because we all get old and we all get 27 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:54,560 sick. 28 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:56,160 I know I'm gonna get sick one day. 29 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,120 I took that 23andMe blood test exam on funny curiosity, 30 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:00,720 it came back and told me that I'm genetically unable 31 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:02,320 to get Alzheimer's when I get older. 32 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:03,840 I also learned this right around the same time and 33 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:05,840 I met a woman named Kenneth, a friend of mine. 34 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:07,200 She owns her own LLC. 35 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:09,520 She is a health care provider, particularly for assisted living, 36 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:11,680 so she helps people with dementia and Alzheimer's and things 37 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:12,000 like that. 38 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,160 And she's ranging to me saying, Dale, I'm about to 39 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:17,680 go out of business unless I drop my Medicaid recipients. 40 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:19,440 Because the Medicaid money is just not there anymore. 41 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:21,760 The Medicaid rates have not been adjusted since long before 42 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:25,520 the pandemic, and growing inflation is killing the sector. 43 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:26,560 I mean, this is terrible. 44 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:28,560 She's she's dropping people, and she knows these people, she 45 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:30,400 doesn't want to do this, but this is the system 46 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:31,200 that we live in. 47 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:32,960 And Texas, one of the few states in the country 48 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:35,440 that's not opted into the Medicaid expansion program. 49 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:36,720 I don't know how much time I have left, but 50 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,280 the Medicaid expansion program is something we all spend money 51 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:39,840 into. 52 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:42,720 It's a national money bucket that's paid through our federal 53 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:45,760 taxes, and that money goes to states like California and 54 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:47,120 New Jersey, but not back here. 55 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,640 So we Texans are paying for medical programs in California 56 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:52,880 and in Jersey, but not back here at home. 57 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:54,400 This affects people's lives. 58 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:56,640 This affects this woman named Kennetta I'm talking about. 59 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:58,560 This this affects healthcare providers. 60 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:00,920 It also makes it difficult for. for uh for uh 61 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:03,160 my father in law, example, who has said he could 62 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:05,240 have cancer in the later years of his life as 63 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:06,600 he's slowly degrading over time 64 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:09,320 God rest his soul, he was worrying about the financials. 65 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:11,160 The Medicaid money is just not there. 66 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:13,320 Also, as a retired school teacher, he didn't make Jack 67 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:14,120 Squat. 68 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:16,840 I feel that we need leadership in Austin to affect 69 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:20,360 our broken healthcare system and support our school teachers like 70 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:21,640 my father in law was. 71 00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:22,760 I'm out of time, but thank you. 72 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:23,880 If you want to learn more about me, go to 73 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:25,160 fray for texas.com. 74 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:27,160 That's f R E Y for Texas.com. 75 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:29,160 Thank you for your time.