A few months ago, I borrowed an EpiPen from a friend for a candidate I worked with who has severe allergies and no health insurance. The candidate was running her campaign, paying rent, and keeping up with student loans — there was no way she could find hundreds of dollars a month to pay for health care.

It’s well known that Congress is overwhelmingly white and male, and any depressing photo of a pallid, suit-and-tie clad congressional class makes this crystal clear. Less visually obvious is the enormous wealth of our elected officials, and of those who choose to run each year.

With a self-declared billionaire in the White House who's intent on rolling back financial regulations and devastating the social safety net, we need young, working women in office now more than ever. But with trillions owed for student loans and skyrocketing health care costs, there are very few women who can afford to run.

Running for office is time-consuming and emotionally exhausting. It’s also a full-time, unpaid job that barrels through weekends and evenings, without allowing for a moment off the clock. This is part of the reason we’re saddled with candidates who have millions to spend, and in turn, that our current congressional class has more than a billion dollars in combined wealth. These representatives may have graduated debt-free from college or inherited trust funds they used to buy a first home. Many are able to pay sky-high health insurance premiums without flinching. Their bank accounts are full, their debt nonexistent; being unpaid for a year while campaigning sometimes has little effect on their savings.

The bank accounts of many young people in America are far from the war chests of these privileged candidates. One in four Americans have student loans, owing an average $32,732, according to financial analysis site, ValuePenguin; they have an average monthly payment of $400. The average monthly health care premium for an American with insurance coverage through their employer is $558. When you have student loans, a mortgage or rent to pay, running for office isn’t just an uphill battle; it’s monumentally cost-prohibitive. And with the added loss of employee-covered health insurance if you focus on campaigning full-time, running for office becomes a pipe dream.

If we want leaders who understand the challenges facing young women, and who will fight for us in elected office, then we need student debt forgiveness and Medicare for All.

Many of the college students who have taken out loans are the kind of people we need in public office: working-class women and people of color. Yet many of the young people I’ve met say they’re waiting to run until they’ve paid off their loans. With the constantly rising cost of living, that day keeps getting farther away. Those who decide to run despite their debt, like former Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, are shamed and criticized as fiscally irresponsible. But by forgiving student debt, we could swiftly knock down a barrier that has kept young women waiting on the sidelines.

Medicare for All would do the same. Health insurance doesn’t just exacerbate the ever-growing wealth gap; it is a major obstacle for qualified, would-be candidates. Too often, young women remain bound to their jobs because of employee-based health care. With Medicare for All, more women could run for office without fear of what would happen if they became ill without coverage.

Congress may gradually be getting more diverse, but our elected officials are often some of the wealthiest people in this nation, representing a tiny subset of people with no experience or understanding of the economic challenges most young Americans face. Perhaps that’s why the policies that emerge from Washington, including defunding Planned Parenthood and cutting taxes for the wealthy, leave young and working-class people more impoverished.

We need leaders who understand — firsthand — what it’s like to default on loans, to live paycheck-to-paycheck, and to choose between rent and health care. Student debt forgiveness and Medicare for All will help millions of Americans who are drowning under the weight of these monthly bills, andthey’ll help us elect young leaders who will fight for all of us.

Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Elizabeth Warren’s Behind-the-Scenes Push to Get More Women in Government