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Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has campaigned on passing Medicare-for-all, but his wife’s private psychiatry practice appears to operate outside the insurance system entirely.
El-Sayed, who secured the Democratic nomination for Senate on Wednesday, has argued that “healthcare shouldn’t depend on who signs your paycheck” and demanded that taxpayers pay to “guarantee healthcare from cradle to grave” through Medicare-for-all. Despite this, his wife, Sarah Jukaku, states on her medical practice’s website that she is out of network with all insurance companies, generally requiring patients to pay the practice directly, though some may be eligible for out-of-network reimbursement.
Prior to July 2026, the FAQ section of Jukaku’s website for her practice included the question “do you accept my insurance?” accompanied by the answer “no,” according to the Washington Free Beacon. Her profile on Psychology Today, a popular professional database for therapists and psychiatrists, also at one point noted that she did not accept insurance.
Jukaku operates her own practice where she is the sole physician.
Abdul El-Sayed, candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, speaks before U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., takes the stage at Mumford High School on May 3, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
Amid media scrutiny in July, the practice’s website became inaccessible to the public and displayed a message indicating that it was private. Fox News Digital reached Jukaku and her practice multiple times via phone and email but received no response.
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It is not rare for psychiatrists to turn away patients on Medicare. A 2022 analysis by KFF found that 40% of psychiatrists did not participate in Medicare, among the highest rate of any medical specialty.
Even as his wife’s psychiatry practice reportedly operates on an out-of-network model, El-Sayed has repeatedly stressed the importance of expanding access to government-backed healthcare.
In a 2020 interview with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, for instance, he stated that “my wife’s a psychiatrist, and we talk about the fact that a lot of folks don’t do psychiatry because it’s not as well recompensed as other practices simply because it’s undervalued in the system.” He went on to argue that the United States needs to build a “system” that “recognizes” the importance of treating “mental illness” due to the prevalence of “serious mental illness” and “death by suicide.”
Years later, at a September 2025 campaign event, El-Sayed lamented that individuals with “serious mental illness” often “fall out of care” due to “transitions in health insurance.”
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U.S. Senate candidate from Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, has been endorsed by Bernie Sanders and embraced comparisons between he and Zohran Mamdani. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
The couple reported nearly $686,000 in total income in 2025, underscoring the contrast between El-Sayed’s calls for expanded government-backed healthcare and his wife’s out-of-network psychiatry practice.
The couple reported $686,069 in total income and $675,246 in adjusted gross income on two pages of their 2025 tax return released Wednesday. El-Sayed also sports a collection of luxury watches ranging in value from $2,000 to $10,000 a piece.
Abdul El-Sayed (R) answers a question during a press conference at the Michigan Democratic Party State Endorsement Convention in Detroit on April 19, 2026 while communications director Roxie Richner (C) looks on. (Jose Juarez/AP Photo)
“He regularly wears a SAR Rescue Timer on the campaign trail because he is trying to rescue our politics from corporate corruption,” El-Sayed spokeswoman Roxie Richner told the Washington Free Beacon. “Sometimes he wears a vintage doctor’s watch because he is a doctor.”
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Though El-Sayed earned a medical degree, he was never a licensed physician, which caused controversy amid allegations that he had claimed to be a practicing doctor.
“He has earned the right to be called ‘doctor’ twice over,” a campaign spokesperson said at the time, alluding to the fact that he received both a medical degree and a doctorate degree in public health.
The El-Sayed campaign and Jukaku did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital.