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In May 2020, Kahele joined the Hawaii National Guard's COVID-19 Joint Task Force in an active duty capacity.
Kahele is a strong supporter of a single-payer “Medicare for All” system. Kahele wants to improve access to health care in rural areas and work to address the physician shortage which has worsened over the past decade.
In a 2020 Hawaii Public Health Institute Candidate Survey, Kahele indicated that he was in support of the legalization of marijuana.
As a state senator, Kahele sponsored legislation to ensure mental health parity and expand access to mental health resources for Hawaiian youth, mothers and inmates. He also sponsored legislation that would allow pharmacists to prescribe opioid antagonists for treatment of opioid use disorder. Additionally, Kahele sponsored legislation in support of the inclusion of Native Hawaiian cultural intervention treatment programs for those living with opioid use disorder. He also co-authored failed legislation that would allow for mental health treatment of youth without parental consent.
As a member of Congress, Kahele intends to work to lower the cost of prescription drugs, including allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. While in the state senate, Kahele authored an unsuccessful bill applying regulations and mandates to pharmacy benefit managers.
Kahele wants to make combating the Veteran suicide epidemic one of his top priorities in Congress and intends to work to expand VA services and end their backlog by filling the numerous vacancies that exist within the agency. Additionally, Kahele supports the appropriation of funds to establish additional post-acute care and rehabilitation centers.
Kahele is pro-choice. Kahele supports universal access to contraceptives, opposes any attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade and supports overturning the Hyde Amendment.
Kahele indicated that he supported various regulations that would limit accessibility for tobacco and nicotine vaporizer products, including bans on menthol flavored cigarettes and bans on flavored e-liquids. He also introduced a bill to mandate coverage of hearing aids.
