We are living in the richest country in the world, yet we are constantly forced to choose between our financial stability and our physical health. If you are a Latina entrepreneur, a side-hustler, or simply part of the middle class making ends meet, you know the crushing reality of exorbitant insurance premiums and sky-high deductibles. You are doing everything right. working hard, supporting your family, yet the system feels rigged against you because, quite frankly, it is.
Today, we are sitting down with Jose Roberto Pulido Jr., famously known as the 90s music legend Bobby Pulido. But he’s not here to talk about his Grammys; he is running for U.S. Congress in District 15 to take on the exact corporate monopolies squeezing the middle class. Bobby shares his raw, infuriating personal experience with the healthcare system and explains exactly how political decisions directly impact your wallet.
In this episode, you will learn the mechanics behind why your health insurance feels like a scam and how corporate money legally influences politics. Most importantly, you will discover exactly why casting your vote in local elections is the most powerful tool you have to protect your family’s future and generational wealth.
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The system prioritizes profits over patients: Health insurance companies answer to shareholders first, which is why middle-class families and sole entrepreneurs bear the brunt of expensive premiums and high deductibles.
Always ask for the cash price: Medical billing is deeply flawed. Always ask providers what the out-of-pocket “cash price” is; it can often be thousands of dollars cheaper than running it through an insurance deductible.
Corporate money drives policy: The 2010 Citizens United ruling flooded politics with corporate money, making it harder for the average citizen’s voice to be heard without grassroots, small-donor support.
Your local vote is your loudest voice: With many local elections being won by less than 100 votes, sitting out is not an option. Whether you believe in civics or not, policies will still affect your daily life.
The healthcare system is heavily broken due to insurance companies holding too much power. These corporations operate with a primary fiduciary responsibility to their stock market shareholders, meaning they turn profits at the expense of denying patient coverage. By utilizing high annual deductibles that constantly reset, the insurance companies ensure they rarely lose money, leaving middle-class families and entrepreneurs severely financially squeezed.
In 2010, the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision established that money in politics constitutes free speech. This landmark 5-4 ruling fundamentally altered the U.S. political system by allowing immense corporate wealth to flow into campaigns. Consequently, politicians are often forced to wheel and deal with corporate America to remain competitive, creating a corrupt system that prioritizes corporate interests over everyday citizens.
Voting in local elections is incredibly critical because these races are frequently decided by razor-thin margins. In many districts, voter participation is alarmingly low; sometimes only 2,000 people turn out to vote. As a result, candidates can win primary runoffs by under 100 votes—amounting to less than a single neighborhood block of people.
Anjelica Cazares: Hola, amiga. Welcome to the Latina Leadership Podcast, a podcast by Latinas for all women. Get ready because today’s conversation is really special. Hola, and welcome to another episode of the Latina Leadership Podcast. I am your host, Anjelica Cazares. And on today’s episode, it’s going to be quite quick, but I have here for those who don’t recognize this gentleman here sitting next to me, this is going to sound really silly, but I’m going to do it anyway. I usually ask everybody the same question when I start every podcast. Who are you and what do you do?
Bobby Pulido: Jose Roberto Pulido Jr. is my name, also known as Bobby Pulido. I, for 30 years, have been a singer. And now I’m running for U.S. Congress in District 15.
Anjelica Cazares: You said Bobby Pulido, known as Bobby Pulido.
Bobby Pulido: Yes.
Anjelica Cazares: So let’s just get this out of the way. You’re a singer. You started back in the 90s. You’ve had your career, your trajectory. You run your Grammys. You’ve done all those great things. You have songs that we all know and dance to still to this day and sing to karaoke to. We still all have all of that happen, right? I read somewhere in the space that you actually studied.
Bobby Pulido: I studied political science. I was very, very studious. I was in high school. I was a Texas boy stater and I was what you called back then a nerd.
Anjelica Cazares: A nerd. It’s a good thing.
Bobby Pulido: I think it’s a good thing. And I got an academic scholarship, went to St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, studied political science, did not finish in my last year. I was 21 hours shy. I had recorded a song with my dad. My dad is Roberto Pulido, very well-known singer in his own writes a legend. And I recorded a song with him that had some success. And so then I was a broke college student. And then I started getting two record labels in a bidding war. And I decided to try out my luck in music. And it went very well.
Anjelica Cazares: So when you talk about political science, what about the topic or the subject were you interested in? What part of it?
Bobby Pulido: Just how it all works, you know?
Anjelica Cazares: Such as?
Bobby Pulido: Well, I think history and politics go hand in hand because you can learn a lot from history. And a lot of times it tends to repeat itself. And so just the whole way the political system since our inception, how it’s evolved and now where it’s going, where it is right now and what, where is it going in the future? you know, political heterodoxy is always changing. So sometimes, you know, one party will be for something and then it shifts and it becomes the opposite. And then this party used to be for this and now it’s this. And so, you know, that’s always fascinated me.
Anjelica Cazares: What is the difference between what your political career looks like? Because everybody wants to know, everybody wants answers and nobody has questions to ask you.
Bobby Pulido: I don’t have a political career right now. I’m campaigning. So you can’t have a political career till you win. So, look in music, when I first started, I had to prove myself. And in politics, it’s the same. It’s the same.
Anjelica Cazares: Good.
Bobby Pulido: I have to prove myself. And in order to do that, you got to be willing to answer the questions. go speak to constituents and, we’ve, my district covers it. It’s compromised of, 11 counties.
Anjelica Cazares: So we’re in the, we’re in the Valley for those who don’t know. We’re here down in the, we’re in the Rio Grande Valley.
Bobby Pulido: Yes. Specifically in Edinburg. But actually this district crosses I-10 between Houston and San Antonio. That’s how far north it goes.
Anjelica Cazares: Is that where you’re asking the votes from down that way? Even that way? That’s what I’m saying. I have no idea.
Bobby Pulido: So, this is Hidalgo County in the Rio Grande Valley, but there’s 10 other counties in the district.
Anjelica Cazares: That are, that are part of the district.
Bobby Pulido: That’s correct. I’m not running just in the Valley. It goes all the way to Welder in Gonzales County.
Anjelica Cazares: Gonzales County? Is that San Antonio? Like where San Antonio?
Bobby Pulido: San Antonio. It’s in between, it’s, it’s, closer to San Antonio, but it’s on the way to Houston.
Anjelica Cazares: Oh, okay. Oh wow. So what was it that you said, you know what, it’s time for somebody else to run for office. It’s time for, you know what, if I have…
Bobby Pulido: Healthcare.
Anjelica Cazares: Talk to me about it.
Bobby Pulido: We have a, we have a crisis with our healthcare system right now. many people like Texas is the least insured state in the country. I don’t have health insurance and, it’s the reason I don’t have it is because it’s so expensive that it’s not worth it. I, right now it’s gotten to the point where it’s a scam because it’s actually cheaper.
Anjelica Cazares: That’s a strong word.
Bobby Pulido: It is. It is. I had, I had a situation, a medical situation where I went to a doctor without getting into details, but I went to a doctor and, didn’t have insurance. And I said, well, it’s private pay. Like, okay, well, it’ll be $300 for the office visit. So I paid the $300. And see the doctor, the doctor says, we’re going to need a test. I said, well, how much is a test? Well, they’ll tell you up front, you know, reception. I went, okay. So I went up front and asked them, how much is, the test? We’ll call you. So they call me the day before the test and asked me if I have insurance again. And I said, no, I told y’all I don’t have insurance. And they said, there’s pause. And they said, it said, there’s going to be a, it’s going to be $10,000 for the test. And I said, well, then I guess I’m not getting the test. I said, if I got to go to Mexico to get it, I’ll go, I’ll go get my healthcare in Mexico. And he said, well, you can pay us in payments. I said, no, I’m not paying $10,000 for a test, even if it’s in payments. So I said, what, but here’s what I want you to do. Go ask your superior or anybody that you have to, how much I can pay in cash. And I will tell you if I can afford it or not. They call me back like three hours later and told me we can do the test for $1,500 from $10,000 to 1,500. And that moment I realized that this healthcare system is incredibly broken and it’s due in large part to insurance companies. They have too much power right now. And there’s there’s really a general theme that’s happening throughout our country, historically recently that has really, it’s a common general theme in every industry or not every, but a lot of them, even in the music industry, Ticketmaster just lost a big lawsuit, antitrust lawsuit. Everybody that’s out there knows that ticket prices are outrageously expensive. It’s not because of the artists. It’s because of that. It’s the middleman. It’s this, it’s a corporation that goes, we’re going to get in there and we need to find a way how we can make a bunch of money. And it hurts the consumer.
Anjelica Cazares: Once you’re in office, what, possibly can you do to change that?
Bobby Pulido: You have to, we’ll fight to strengthen antitrust laws and fight those big corporations. Here’s what happens in 2010. There was a Supreme court decision called Citizens United. That was the worst thing that could have happened to our political system in the United States. I’ve always been a Democrat and Democrats always historically have fought for the little guy, right? Democrats historically are going to fight for the little guy. In 2010, the Supreme court decision of Citizens United because Republicans fought against it and they, and it was a five, four decision. So it was really close made a case that money in politics was free speech. Democrats were trying to get money out of politics because I think money in politics is corruption. So it has become a corrupt system that unfortunately the Democrats in order to compete with Republicans had to also go wheel and deal with corporate America.
Anjelica Cazares: So correct. All of that can, can take place in all of that. We, we can write history has a place, right? History and politics. That’s what I said, right?
Bobby Pulido: Yes.
Anjelica Cazares: But so what doesn’t change doesn’t change. And there’s this, there’s this rhetoric, right? History will always repeat itself, right? That’s what, that’s what’s said. So when you talk about these kinds of policies specifically to hold either yourself accountable or your constituents accountable, what specifically do you feel you will face and where will you work hard to get there?
Bobby Pulido: Well, I’m running for U.S. Congress, right? Which is one member out of 435 in Congress. We’ve seen them.
Anjelica Cazares: I watch them every night to try to see what it is that they’re doing. So, you obviously have a voice. You have proposals, but you’re also fighting in a machine that each congressman has their own interest. So it’s not easy.
Bobby Pulido: It’s a jungle. It really is. But I don’t have a fatalistic view of politics. I have a positive view. I feel that we should never just be accepting of our, of, well, you can’t change anything. No, I, I dream big. And I think that we have to get in there and, point out and call out the inequities that are happening right now. And I think that’s, that’s the job. You got to go out there and fight in that jungle. I think we have a corruption problem right now. That’s the bottom line. And we need to elect people that are not corrupt, that will go do what’s right for the people. And the problem is, is there’s lot of money in politics? And that’s when I speak about Citizens United is that’s the problem. That’s why we depend a lot on small donor money. Which you tell people, Hey, donate 25 bucks to the campaign. Because, because then you have the power of the people.
Anjelica Cazares: Health care is a big topic for everybody because health care is always, you know, because that’s the way, the way the United States it’s run. It’s run through health insurance is insurance in general, right? Car insurance, house insurance. I mean, general insurance for your truck. I mean, that’s just the way it’s run, right? But when we talk about health care specifically, and not necessarily the corrupt agencies or whatever it may be, but you, where specifically do you feel like you lie in terms of health care? Do you want to straighten it for those who can afford it? Or for those, or how will it shift? In a perfect world where Bobby lived and he ran it, what would it look like?
Bobby Pulido: Yes. I think we need to take the power away from the health insurance companies. now, health insurance companies basically tell the doctors what they can and should do.
Anjelica Cazares: It’s no longer. You’re right. It’s no longer between you and your doctor. It’s between the insurance and them.
Bobby Pulido: And the insurance goes, the doctor says, I think they need this medication. Nah, we’re not going to do that. Think about that. Think about what that’s doing too. We’re like one of the least healthiest countries out there in the industrial world, right? We’re the last one in the world that doesn’t provide universal health care coverage for people because they get you with these deductibles. They’ll tell you, okay, you’re going to pay us, like in my case, they tried to sell me on this, right? You’re going to pay, I don’t know, $15,000 a year, right? $15,000 a year premiums. But there’s $4,000 deductible for me, a $4,000 deductible for my wife and a $4,000 deductible for my son that resets every year. They never lose. Understand a health insurance company, they have one fiduciary responsibility. It’s to their shareholders in the stock market. So what they have to do is they have to say, show, we turned a profit, so give us more money. But they turn profits at the expense of denying coverage.
Anjelica Cazares: Well, I’ll tell you this, that I have health insurance myself, right? But there’s some times that I’ll walk into the office and be like, because I don’t want to meet that deductible. And I’ll be like, no, don’t, don’t charge my insurance. Charge me.
Bobby Pulido: But if you’re on a file?
Anjelica Cazares: They make you.
Bobby Pulido: Listen, you say you have health insurance, right? If you go in there and say, no, no, don’t charge it. I’ll just pay private pay. I’ll pay out of pocket. But a lot of times what the insurance companies do is they make the doctor, they, they write the laws to where you, you cannot get the discount that I get. I get a discount because I don’t have it.
Anjelica Cazares: You’re already in network and you’ve been flagged.
Bobby Pulido: They’re going to charge the insurance company $500. And then they’re going to charge me, they’re going to charge me like $250, half the price.
Anjelica Cazares: So like that, I don’t have to reach my premium or I don’t have to reach like that. And you don’t feel like you’re getting scammed. I feel like I don’t understand the insurance world. That’s what I feel like. And I feel like it’s the dollars coming out of my pocket.
Bobby Pulido: That’s when the dollars are coming out of your pocket. It hurts.
Anjelica Cazares: It hurts.
Bobby Pulido: You’re getting scammed.
Anjelica Cazares: So there’s difference. So there’s difference when, because this is where it hurts and this is because my audience, a lot of them are entrepreneurs, right? This is where it hurts because a lot of, soul entrepreneurs don’t have health insurance.
Bobby Pulido: Hello. Listen, I, my, my, first wife was a teacher. So I had insurance for a little bit or for a while when she was teaching and it was still not good. But if you’re not married to somebody that has a teacher that’s pulled into one of those big pools, yeah, it’s really bad. It’s really bad. It’s really expensive. It’s not worth it.
Anjelica Cazares: No, no, it’s not.
Bobby Pulido: And then, and, they hurt the small business guy. They’re the entrepreneurs that say, Hey, I’m a small business owner, but you know, and then some people who actually can afford not to have health insurance and just, because I even know somebody who doesn’t have, he’s in insurance. He owns an insurance company and doesn’t have insurance.
Anjelica Cazares: Hold on. He owns an insurance, a car insurance company, but he doesn’t pay for car insurance because he’s well off enough to be able to pay out of pocket if something happens. So he can be held accountable to himself. But we’re out here running around, like even liability is difficult for people right now who cannot afford it.
Bobby Pulido: is. And, as you know, here in Edinburg and people cross to go and, just pay for like simple, simple tasks.
Anjelica Cazares: Yes.
Bobby Pulido: And I’ve seen a lot of people like flock, as soon as they find out they have like cancer, immediately go to Mexico to get their treatments because they can’t afford it or because it’s difficult. Think about this. And they give them the run around. Think about this. We live in the richest country in the world. And we got to go to other countries for healthcare here on the border. What’s wrong with that picture? We should be ashamed of ourselves in the richest country of the world. We can’t take care of our own.
Anjelica Cazares: Well, Bobby, I got something to say with that because Congress is the one is the one that’s holding it. And that’s what you’re running.
Bobby Pulido: It’s not just Congress. It’s the Senate. It’s the president. It’s this and this is a machine. It’s not. But, but if we elect enough people that care to fight the good fight, I believe we can change things.
Anjelica Cazares: Perfect.
Bobby Pulido: You can’t continue to squeeze people. And that’s what’s happening right now. The middle class is getting squeezed.
Anjelica Cazares: I have to say this. I think you’re going to win the office. I think you’re going to win the seat.
Bobby Pulido: Well, we don’t know yet, but I appreciate that. Thank you.
Anjelica Cazares: I think you are. When I come back in two years, Bobby, and there’s going to be those that are getting through and the votes are going to happen as you’re in the seat. If I come back and have a conversation with you two years, do you feel like you’re still strongest topic is going to be healthcare? Or should I say, you know what, Bobby, he held to his and he said, this is what I ran on and this is what I’m going to stand on.
Bobby Pulido: I don’t have a crystal ball. I wish I could tell you that in two years, we’re going to fix it.
Anjelica Cazares: Oh, no, no, not fix it.
Bobby Pulido: No, I’ll fight. I will definitely. I mean, that’s, that’s, my, that’s my hope. That’s my hope. That’s what, that’s the deal. We have to fight for this because people can’t, people had enough. They’ve had enough and we have not done our part. So yeah, it takes a village though. And it takes people get involved. You know, voter participation is really low. A lot of people just don’t vote. you have to get involved. You have to elect people that care, people that will tell you the truth.
Anjelica Cazares: Absolutely. Well, Bobby, in order to, to really be a successful interview with somebody who’s running for the offers, cause this is an opportunity for me to have these kinds of conversations. What would you like your constituents or the audience to know about you specifically when they go out and vote, they haven’t voted or if they’re going to go out and vote or they have the opportunity to vote for you? What would you like to tell them?
Bobby Pulido: That I care. I care about my community. I care about my country. I care about my state. And, I do understand that it’s impossible, right? We obviously want to eliminate poverty. We want to eliminate everything. It’s impossible to cover all your tracks, which we also have to do a good job to take care of a lot of the people that are trying their best to make it in the world. I think right now, nobody’s talking to the middle class, nobody’s talking to the people that make $60,000 a year. And it feels like you have one party that caters to the poor, which is a good thing, right? Because they’re underprivileged and, we should never let them, you know, down. But the other party caters to the really rich and the middle class is having to slave their way through work just to make ends meet. And it’s not right. You know, there’s lot of things that happen where if you’re below the threshold, if you say the threshold’s $30,000 a year, if you make $29,500, you get a lot of government assistance. But if you make $32,000, you don’t. And so that should not be a cliff. It should be a slope because there’s people that are making $35,000, but they’re working two jobs. They can’t afford childcare. They’re, they’re doing what everybody’s told them to do, which is to work hard and they can’t make it. We’re failing them. For me, my North Star. When I look at see who am I going to support is, do I feel that person will do what’s right, regardless of their party label? I think that’s the important thing. Because like I said, the party shift, you know, the Democrats used to be known as the Dixiecrats. Before 1965, the racists were in the Democratic Party. That’s not the case anymore, I might add.
Anjelica Cazares: But things, the rebels, yeah.
Bobby Pulido: Things change, right? Things shift. What should not shift is our values. They should not.
Anjelica Cazares: Honestly, I’d rather get taxed 40% of what my company makes. So like that, everybody could afford some type of healthcare, right? That’s my stance on it. I also believe in, but here’s the thing though. I also believe in, in like woman autonomy. And I know there’s like controversy like around that, but that’s just me, right? That’s me.
Bobby Pulido: But even, even, yes.
Anjelica Cazares: Because that’s, that’s the way I would like. Of course. So when we talk about like, you should stand for everybody in your values and what you believe or who you feel is going to do the right thing for your family, for generations to come for generations to, to so on and so forth. What do you say to those who don’t, aren’t registered to vote, but really do need to get out there and vote?
Bobby Pulido: Well, first you got to register, get involved, educate yourself on, on the issues. Cause believe it or not, like it impacts your life, who you vote for and who’s in, in, your representatives and that you elect even at the local level, I might add, right. It doesn’t matter if it’s city council. It doesn’t matter anything. It matters who you elect matters. And look, I think, I think people generally have a good BS meter. I think you can tell when somebody’s genuinely for you or not. You know, and choose wisely. Choose wisely. That’s, that’s the, that’s the thing, right? I mean, right now this administration is not doing what they said they were going to do. They said, no new wars. Boom. We’re going to Iran. There’s so many things that we were promised. Like vote for me and I’ll make sure that the prices go down. They didn’t go down. We’re only going to deport the bad people. that’s not happening. It’s a lot of good people too. and so there’s lot of things that, people were told and were lied to, and it’s okay. Listen, that’s the one thing I’m going to say. I don’t believe in shaming anybody. I don’t believe in judging anybody on how you voted. It’s a binary choice and you vote for the best candidate that you feel best represents what you want. But it’s also okay to say that was a mistake. We all make mistakes, right? I have, I have less, less, and I’m going to tell you, I have less light word. There’s been times that I have voted for people that disappoint me. it’s, and, do I shame myself? No. Like, right. It’s okay. Let’s just make it right. If we believe that right now this country is too polarized, and I do think it is, we’re not helping the situation.
Anjelica Cazares: No. We’re adding onto it. And, yes, I’ve thought the same thing, but I still don’t believe that, if we were to turn the tables and I would have voted a certain way, what were you thinking? I don’t want them to tell me that. At the end of the day, I think we also,
Bobby Pulido: you know, I, I, you know, you know what, we, we can, we can go down that route. I call my own side out when they, when we mess up too, right? We can go down that. When we had, when we had President Biden says, I’m only going to run for one term and then I’m out and then he wants to run again. And then we see all those things. There’s a reason.
Anjelica Cazares: I mean, yeah, you know, I’ll say this, I’ll say this. Even when Obama was in office, I still hit the streets when the immigration, the whole immigration thing came about. I was still down the streets and I still voted. I still voted Obama and Democrat. I found myself in the streets.
Bobby Pulido: But you still didn’t like that part.
Anjelica Cazares: No, absolutely not. I did not. And we should all still stand on, on the personal beliefs that we, we truly believe.
Bobby Pulido: Absolutely.
Anjelica Cazares: But there becomes a time where we really need to, I’m going to go back to what I was saying earlier is whether you believe in civics or not, whether you believe in political careers or not, whether you believe it in or not, it’s going to happen to you. You’re going to be affected by the policies that are being implemented. And that’s what’s happening right now. So whether you vote or don’t vote, it’s still going to happen to you. So you might as well get out there.
Bobby Pulido: But if you vote, you can make a difference.
Anjelica Cazares: Absolutely. Absolutely. I heard, I was talking to somebody here, another, not another candidate, but somebody who was actually in office. And she was talking about how only 2,000 people went and came out and voted in her district, in her area.
Bobby Pulido: 2,000?
Anjelica Cazares: 2,000. Wow. Under, and so people are winning within those 50 votes, 100 votes.
Bobby Pulido: Oh yeah.
Anjelica Cazares: In, in very local running sessions. Why?
Bobby Pulido: And then we, and then we turn around. A candidate in another cycle for Congress actually won a primary, a primary runoff by under 100 votes. Imagine that, by under 100 votes. That’s less than a block of people. I mean, so yeah, does your vote count? It does.
Anjelica Cazares: It does. It does. It does. So again, whether you believe in civics or not, it’s going to happen to you.
Bobby Pulido: That’s right. Whether you believe in civics or not, and you said they needed the stop sign there, but they put a, they put a stop light. How dare they? What did, what did, what did you vote? No. Don’t complain.
Anjelica Cazares: Well, what’s up? Then you need to get out there. You need to register. You need to vote. So Bobby, thank you so much for having a conversation with me. Appreciate it. And lasting words to those who are going to vote for you. What would you like to say uninterrupted?
Bobby Pulido: Well, you know, get involved, educate yourself. I’m go, go to Bobby Pulido for Texas. We have policy positions there and, you know, I appreciate your support. Truth of the matter is, is it’s not easy running when you’re used to being in a career where everybody like likes you and then you get a lot of not, you know, a lot of hate I can say in politics. It’s a different world, but it’s worth it for me. It is worth it to go through all of this in order to help people. So I look forward to helping the people of District 15, but not just District 15, the people of the state of Texas and our country.
Anjelica Cazares: Thank you. Thank you, Bobby.
