By Sarah Nagem
Salisbury Post
As a pediatrician specializing in the treatment of allergies, Teresa Bratton is passionate about two things ó universal health care and the environment.
Now the 59-year-old Greensboro resident wants to take her passion to Washington. She is vying for the Democratic seat to run for the N.C. 6th Congressional District.
Originally from Tennessee, Bratton moved to Greensboro in 1981. She ran a private pediatrics practice there for years, but she closed up shop two years ago. Since then, she has spent one day a week working at Guilford Child Health in Greensboro, where she runs the asthma clinic.
At the clinic, Bratton surely sees her share of uninsured patients. GCF caters to Medicaid patients and the uninsured.
The country needs a universal health-care system, Bratton said. The question is, how should it be funded?
“If nothing else, we’re going to have to have some type of nonprofit to cover those people who aren’t covered now,” she said in front of the South Rowan Regional Library on Friday afternoon.
The government needs to reshuffle money to ensure that everyone has access to good health care, Bratton said.
As for the environment, Bratton said, the government needs to step in and take a more active role in reducing pollution.
She is in favor of a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions. That means a company would be allowed to emit a certain amount of carbon. If it emits less than it was allowed, it could sell its carbon credits to another company that needs them.
Gradually, the government should reduce the amount of carbon industries can emit, Bratton said.
“You have to decrease it over time, and you have to set goals,” she said.
A greener country could displace millions of workers whose jobs depend on fossil fuels. That’s why government leaders need to shell out money to community colleges across the country for training programs designed for a greener world, Bratton said.
Also, leaders need to support small businesses and give tax breaks to companies that are friendly to the environment, she said.
Bratton’s take on environmental issues seemed to impress John Hall, a Landis resident who stopped to chat on Friday. He’s also passionate about the environment, he said.
“It’s a great little word, and everyone gets all warm and fuzzy about it,” Hall said.
But any newly elected leader won’t have an easy ride toward environmentally friendly legislation, he said. Government leaders need to compromise when it comes to saving the planet, Hall said.
Bratton agreed. “I don’t think we’re going to get there in one step,” she said. “But we need to start moving.”
Bratton graduated from Vanderbilt University, where she received a degree in mathematics and a minor in chemistry. She graduated from Vanderbilt’s medical school in 1974.
Bratton has never held a publicly elected office. She is running against Johnny J. Carter and Jay Ovittore in the Democratic primary.
Republican Howard Coble has held the seat in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1985.