The Patch: Healthcare Entrepreneur Dan Lee 9th Democrat To Enter 11th District Race For Congress
Dan Lee, a healthcare technology entrepreneur, announced on Tuesday that he is running to fill the vacant seat in Virginia’s 11th Congressional District, following the recent death of incumbent Gerry Connolly.
Born and raised in Fairfax County to working-class immigrant parents from South Korea, Lee is a product of Fairfax County Public Schools. To put himself through college, Lee mopped floors and later served in the White House, at the World Bank, and as a senior aide to the Democratic chief of staff for the governor of Massachusetts, according to a campaign release.
After studying biological sciences at George Washington University, Lee earned graduate degrees in public health and business administration from Dartmouth College.
When Lee's father, who was a small business owner, died of heart complications, his mother, a lifelong nurse, lacked insurance until Medicare kicked in. After she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, Lee moved home to become her caregiver.
“The healthcare industry’s current arrangement was designed to maximize profit, not wellbeing,” Lee said in a campaign release. “My work alleviating the load for patients navigating Medicare, Medicaid, insurers, and providers — to say nothing of my time caring for my mother — has shown me that reform needs to bolster the programs keeping Virginians healthy and curb corporate interests from putting profit over patients.” […]
