Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that as president, she would tackle a host of healthcare issues from prescription drug prices to opioid abuse to mental health problems.

"We have got to take this on," the Democratic presidential nominee said a campaign event in Cleveland, referring to rising prescription drug costs, which are increasingly worrying Americans and have become a 2016 campaign issue.

Last fall, Clinton released a proposal she says would lower the costs of prescription drugs, partially by capping out-of-pocket costs for consumers and allowing Americans to import drugs from abroad.

She raised the issue on Wednesday, saying Americans shouldn't have to pay so much for drugs since their tax dollars help support the research to create the medications in the first place.

"Your tax dollars support the Food and Drug Administration that tests those drugs to determine whether or not they are safe and effective to be able to go to market," Clinton told attendees. "And then we end up in America paying the highest price for those drugs that we have helped to create."

Clinton also criticized the company Gilead Sciences for dramatically raising its price for a popular and effective hepatitis C drug.

"It is so expensive that a lot of Americans are being left out," she said. "And you know what really is upsetting about this is that drug company sells that same drug all over the world at a much lower price to everybody else."

Clinton also said the country needs to "do a better job" in helping people fighting mental health disorders and drug addiction. Her "most emotional encounters" on the campaign trail are "when families grab my hand and talk to me about mental health and addiction," she said.