Dr. Shelly Nickels for Texas House District 122

Shelly Nickels, M.D., MHA

A Compassionate Leader You Can Count On

Dr. Shelly Nickels is a leader you can count on. Her principles of compassion and integrity have guided her way through life, and now she wants to help Texans using those same principles. Her guiding light is ethics and the humane treatment of each other. When elected as state representative for HD 122 you can count on her to listen and to stand up for you.

About Dr. Shelly Nickels

Shelly Nickels is a physician, a mom to three wonderful children, a wife, and a dedicated member of her community here in San Antonio.

Shelly is a native-born Texan from Houston and went to high school at Katy High School, class of 2001. She went to college at Trinity University here in San Antonio where she met her husband Eric, who she has been married to for 19 years. She then went to medical school in Wild, Wonderful West Virginia at Marshall University where she also attended her internal medicine residency where she received the American College of Physicians award for advocacy in healthcare.

She has been a hospitalist in San Antonio since 2014 and became the youngest medical director at Methodist Hospital, overseeing the largest hospitalist group for HCA at the largest hospital in the state of Texas. During that time, she earned a masters degree in healthcare administration at the executive program at Trinity University. Among her many accomplishments she has been the chair of hospital committees and sits on the medical executive committee for Methodist Hospital. She served dutifully during the COVID-19 pandemic at one of the only dedicated COVID hospitals in San Antonio, helping save many lives.

Shelly likes to travel, loves the arts and having game nights with her friends. She is an animal lover with two sweet bulldogs, Potato and Tot. She is down to Earth with a strong sense of empathy above all else. Shelly has been civically minded from an early age, spreading compassion and wanting opportunities for all Texans, and this is why she is running for state representative.

Issues

Healthcare

As a physician this is the number one priority facing Texans. No one should have to go bankrupt due to unforeseen medical emergencies. No one should have to go without lifesaving medical care that they need such as cancer care. Shelly believes strongly in Medicare for the elderly, Medicaid for the disabled and CHIP for pregnant women and children. Medicare is an earned program. Americans deserve to have this without worrying about cuts when they paid into the system. Additionally, the ACA should provide subsidizes so that the working class can pay for insurance and not have their premiums doubled. Drug prices need to come down, and this should be done by being able to negotiate with drug companies.

Food Insecurity

Texas is #1 in the nation in terms of people facing hunger. Nearly 5.4 million Texans including 1.7 million children are among that number. We need better access to food assistance programs for people who unfortunately find themselves unemployed or underemployed. This is not a handout. It is temporary assistance for people who are down on their luck. This is Texans helping their neighbors in times of need.

Property Taxes

Property taxes are going up every year in Texas. This leads to people not being able to afford to stay in their homes, especially as they age with incomes decreasing for the elderly. We need to place caps on property taxes.

Child Care and Education

Texans need more access to affordable childcare. Studies show that head start programs make students better prepared for school as well as having long term effects on economic self-sufficiency. This means higher earning workers for the future of Texas.

Gun Control

We need common sense gun control. We need adequate background checks to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals.

Criminal Justice

Texas has the highest number of people in prison in the country. The average cost to keep someone in prison in Texas is between $30,000-$65,000 per year. We need to abolish for-profit prisons in Texas.

Border Security

We need common sense border security. We need better cooperation especially with Mexico. In addition, we need to increase the pathways to citizenship and to increase the number of immigration judges. We are a nation of immigrants and need to find ways to help make Texas even greater.