Medicare for All

Mark Dudzic, National Coordinator of the Labor Campaign for Single Payer Healthcare, talks about his experiences as a union president that led him to become a Medicare for All activist. He answers our questions about the conflicts in the labor movement over Medicare for All that played out in the presidential primary, the Supreme Court decision in Janus vs AFSCME, COVID-19 and the Democrat’s COBRA proposal, and more. Show Notes On the pod today, is our special guest Mark Dudzic, National Coordinator of the Labor Campaign for Single Payer Healthcare! Mark got into this movement originally as the president of an Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers union local in New Jersey, which struggled more and more to bargain healthcare benefits for workers. After learning about Medicare for All, the union embraced taking healthcare off the bargaining table as a core issue. Today, Mark sees Medicare for All as THE central issue for building a just world for working people. Stepping back just before coronavirus struck, M4A was the #1 issue in the Democratic presidential primaries. One of the most common attacks coming from Biden, Buttigieg, and Klobochar was that M4A would "take away" unions' workplace insurance. Mark was stunned by the explicit celebration of our crazy system linking healthcare to employment - which means you can lose your healthcare when you lose your job, or if you go on strike, or if you get sick. (He wrote up his response in an article titled "Employment-Based Health Care Is an Anchor around the Neck of the U.S. Working Class.") He suspects this messaging was developed by cynical PR experts playing on peoples' fear of losing the access to healthcare they have. Similar messaging is being targeted at seniors: raising the fear that if everyone has Medicare, seniors' Medicare will be taken away or undermined. The good news? Mark argues this fear-mongering against Medicare for All simply did not work this primary election cycle. In every state Democratic voters favored M4A, regardless of who they voted for - even in the face of attacks from many of the leading Presidential candidates. What does it look like for union and non-union workers in other countries that have a Medicare for All type system? Mark says we are the only country where workers essentially have to beg their employer for healthcare coverage, and it significantly undermines their power and leverage over key workers' rights - we are also the only country without guaranteed paid leave, guaranteed due process on the job, etc. Workers waste so much of their bargaining power on healthcare here, it has a tremendous impact on other working conditions. What about the Las Vegas Culinary Union, which on the eve of the Nevada primaries took a run at Bernie Sanders's support for Medicare for All, implying it would "take away" their union health benefits? Mark says this was a watershed movement for organized labor. The Culinary Union is a really good union - through decades of struggle, they've succeeded in lifting a primarily immigrant, low-wage group of workers into the middle class. In part because of this history of activism though, Culinary Union members rejected anti-M4A messaging from their leadership, and by all evidence voted overwhelmingly for Bernie Sanders, and in support of M4A. This was a real wake-up call for union leaders around the country. Now our favorite topic: coronavirus! The current pandemic has the potential to completely transform the conversation around Medicare for All with workers and unions. Mark notes that we have really seen here a collapse of the employment-based healthcare system. 27 million workers have likely lost their health insurance,

We talk with Linda Benesch of Social Security Works about the state of longterm care in the United States - the skimpy coverage provided by public programs like Medicare and Medicaid, the outrageous costs, the for-profit corporations running the vast majority of our nursing homes, and the people - the 70% of Americans who will eventually need longterm care - who are left behind. We explore how Medicare for All would finally establish longterm care as a right and ensure our dollars are spent on care rather than profit. Show Notes Ben & Stephanie reflect on police violence and systemic racism in the U.S. - how insane we appear from the rest of the world, and how racism in healthcare probably kills more people than racism in the criminal justice system, but has far less visibility. We turn to Linda Benesch, Communications Director at Social Security Works, to talk about long-term care (LTC) in the United States (we got an incredible window on long-term care in Denmark last episode). Linda highlights that, although we think of long-term care as a service for seniors, almost half of people in the U.S. who need LTC are under the age of 65 living with a disability. The disability rights movement has also played a leading role nationally in advocating for LTC. If you need long-term care and don't have a family member to care for you for free, your options are very bad. Nursing homes cost $100,000 per year on average - as Linda says, this is really a 99% vs. the 1% issue, since almost no one can afford that without a national LTC plan. Since only Medicaid (and not Medicare) covers LTC, and you have to be poor to qualify for it, to get LTC you will need to sell your home, sell your car, spend down your savings, everything you've worked your whole life for, to make yourself poor enough for long-term care. Remember that study from the last podcast where you'll need to save over $240,000 for medical and LTC costs to retire at 65? Woops - Linda tells us that's only for medical care, and won't help you with LTC expenses. To retire with dignity in America, you essentially have to be a multi-millionaire. Why does LTC cost so much in America? For-profit companies and private equity firms are rampant in the long-term care system, and they profit by driving up prices on the one hand and squeezing staff (paying them poverty wages, understaffing) and slashing services for their clients. On top of this, Medicaid drives people into nursing homes, even for people who could be autonamous and functional receiving home-based care for less. The Medicare for All movement has been increasingly embracing the movement for comprehensive long-term care. Rep. Jayapal's Medicare for All bill in the House would cover all long-term care with taxpayer dollars, free at the point of service - much like Denmark! It would also remove the bias towards providing LTC in facilities like nursing homes, and prioritize home-based care. Only something on the order of 7% of people have any private long-term care insurance, so - unlike universal medical care - there is no massive private insurance system that defenders of the system can try to defend. How does anyone defend our system of LTC? Linda says they don't have to - the conversation is mostly out of sight & out of mind, and is kept there intentionally. Time for a change! We close with a smack-down of AARP, the group supposed to be advocating for seniors in the country, which is deeply compromised by corporate partnerships and income from health insurance and LTC companies. Follow & Support the Pod! You can listen to Medicare for All on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or visit our website here.

Stephanie’s father-in-law, a Danish citizen, is currently moving into assisted living just outside of Copenhagen. His flat is only $1,000 per month, and the home help and rehabilitation he’ll receive is totally free of charge. We wondered about the differences between the U.S. and Denmark’s longterm care system, so we invited a special guest to join this episode: Jon Kvist, a professor at Roskilde University and expert on Danish social welfare systems. We talk about how the Danish longterm care system works and contrast it to what is covered under Medicare and Medicaid here in the United States. Show Notes Depending on the state, anywhere from 40% to 60% (or more) of coronavirus deaths in the United States are taking place in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes [note: Ben incorrectly said 50 to 60% on the podcast]. This is due, in part, to our terrible system of long-term care (at least as bad as our medical care system!). Stephanie's father-in-law is being transitioned to an assisted living facility. Fortunately, he's Danish, where long-term care is covered as a right - just like healthcare. His only expense will be roughly $1,000 per month for rent of his new apartment. We introduce a special guest to the program: Jon Kvist, a professor at Roskilde University, and an expert on the long-term care system in Denmark. First things first: What is long-term care (or LTC)? "Long-term care generally refers to non-medical care (ie, custodial care) for patients who need assistance with basic daily activities such as dressing, bathing and using the bathroom. Long-term care may be provided at home or in facilities that include nursing homes and assisted living." Who gets access to long-term care? Here in the United States, almost no one. Medicare - our public healthcare program for seniors and some people with disabilities - incredibly does not cover long-term care! Most people have to get LTC through Medicaid - which means making yourself poor. Professor Kvist tells us that Denmark has a universal system for long-term care. If you can demonstrate a need for long-term care, it will be covered largely for free - so it is purely needs-based. LTC in Denmark is run at the local level, so it varies somewhat by "municipality" - although the richer municipalities redistribute their funds to the poorer municipalities. By European standards, the Danish government spends a lot on LTC - almost 3% of their total economic spending. But as Professor Kvist points out, if you don't cover LTC publicly, a lot of care will be paid for privately OR provided informally by family members - particularly women are forced into this role. American couples are supposed to save over $240,000 for long-term care and medical costs alone if they want to retire by age 65. How much does the average Dane have to save for retirement? "Close to $0" says Professor Kvist. When you retire in Denmark, you will be taken care of, with the understanding that you will pay into the system when you are healthy and working. The good news for Americans? Ben is only $240,000 short of his retirement savings goals! Ben asks about Danish refugee status for Americans who can't afford to get older in the U.S. - and Professor Kvist says that we're welcome! Another problematic feature of the American long-term care system is what's called "institutional bias": in many states, Medicaid is required to cover institutional LTC (meaning LTC at nursing homes, or assisted living facilities), but does not cover LTC provided in people's own homes, which is cheaper, provides a better quality of life,

Next week, Medicare for All lead sponsors Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Pramila Jayapal will introduce a bill that will authorize Medicare to fully cover medical costs for the uninsured until we have a widely available vaccine for COVID-19. The bill would also provide wrap-around coverage for everyone on public or private insurance. We contrast this bill to the other two healthcare proposals competing for a place in the next relief package. The Koch brothers are trashing Medicare for All with a new healthcare campaign. Health insurers continue to make a profit, but are still crying for help from Congress. Show Notes Burglers broke into the Healthcare-NOW office this past week! They stole loose cash and trashed our non-profit. If you're able to help us with our moving costs, you can donate here. Back to the Medicare for All movement! Congress will soon be taking up a "CARES 2" relief package, and the million-dollar question: will there be any relief for the millions of people losing their health insurance (because they lost their jobs)? There are now three Democratic proposals, but it's unclear whether any healthcare reform at all will be able to make it through the Senate (which is a shocking prospect). We're fans option #1: the "Health Care Emergency Guarantee Act," which will be filed by Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Pramila Jayapal. This would empower Medicare to cover every U.S. resident, until a vaccine for COVID-19 is widely available. Every uninsured resident would be covered, and Medicare would also cover co-pays and deductibles for everyone with private or public health insurance. This would achieve the access goals of Medicare for All, but not yet eliminating private insurance - that would have to come next for the program to be sustainable. Contrast this with option #2: the "Worker Health Coverage Protection Act," which is being championed by Democratic leadership, including Nancy Pelosi. This bill would 100% subsidize the premiums for COBRA - this is the law that lets some workers stay on their previous employer's healthcare plan, if it still exists. There is also a new proposal, option #3: the "Medicare Crisis Program Act," filed by Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Joe Kennedy. This would enroll all of the recently unemployed (since the pandemic) in Medicare, although you would still have to pay most of Medicare's co-pays and deductibles (up to 5% of your income). We like this plan better than the COBRA subsidies: way more people would be eligible, and it's not a giveaway to for-profit insurance companies. But it does still leave out the previously uninsured, and the co-pays and deductibles could be worse than COBRA coverage for workers who had really good healthcare previously (like some union members). Now that we've summarized all of these Democratic bills, bad news: it's unclear whether the Senate will agree to any health insurance relief at all. Senate Republicans have signaled that they want to extract all sorts of concessions (liability reform, tax cuts) if they agree to even things like aid for states and municipalities. Democratic leadership in the Senate have a list of priorities, but healthcare isn't one of them. Is it possible that 30-40 million people will lose their health insurance - during an unprecedented health crisis - and Congress will do nothing? Sadly, yes: it's possible. Next up, the Koch brothers are getting in on the healthcare game: the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity have launched a national healthcare campaign. They're saying their plan is the anti-Medicare for All proposal, but they mostly want to deregulate prescription drugs and other provider regulations...

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Pramila Jayapal draft a bill that would expand Medicare to all who are uninsured for the duration of the crisis. Nancy Pelosi introduces a bill that would cover the full cost of premiums for people who lost employer-sponsored health insurance. Unfortunately, that accounts for less than 4 million of the 35 million and counting who are uninsured right now. Show Notes Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Sen. Bernie Sanders introduce a bill that would extend Medicare to the uninsured, and cover everyone else's co-payments and deductibles, until a vaccine for the coronavirus is widely available. Less than a week later, representing a true profile in courage, Nancy Pelosi and Democratic leadership instead propose a bill that would 100% subsidize COBRA coverage for the duration of the crisis. What is COBRA and why is this problematic? COBRA is a program that lets workers who are laid off or furloughed stay on their former employer's health plan, IF they pay 100% of the premium (including their employer's share and their share). However, you can't access COBRA coverage if : you work for a small employer (under 20 employees);you buy healthcare on your own through an exchange or a broker;your former employer never offered you health insurance; oryour former employer closes down their healthcare plan altogether - which will be very common during this crisis. These categories will disproportionately include low-income workers and people of color - all of whom would be left out of the program. Where did Pelosi come up with this crackpot plan to address a looming national crisis in access to healthcare? It turns out the health insurance company lobby delivered a letter to Congress calling for the exact policies that Democratic leadership are now proposing. Another interesting development: Joe Biden proposes lowering the eligibility age of Medicare to 60. This would be an incremental step towards Medicare for All, but the timing of the proposal - one day after Bernie Sanders suspended his Presidential campaign - indicates this was either a negotiated compromise between the Biden and Sanders campaigns, or an attempt by Biden to win over Sanders supporters. An important action to close the pod: we ask our listeners to sign this petition calling on Congress to support the Public Postal Service. The USPS is actually an integral part of our healthcare system, responsible for delivering prescriptions to millions of Americans, particularly to older people and in rural areas. But the USPS could run out of money as early as June, due to plummeting use of postal services by the industries that have been forced to close. To add insult to injury, the only reason the USPS is struggling financially is that a 2006 law passed by Congress forces the Postal Service to pre-fund their retiree healthcare costs 75 years in advance! If we had Medicare for All, our Postal Service wouldn't have to pay for healthcare premiums at all, much less fund them for future retirees who haven't even been born yet. Follow & Support the Pod! You can listen to Medicare for All on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or visit our website here. Please donate to the Healthcare-NOW Education Fund to support the podcast!

We take a look at the impact that Bernie Sanders campaign had on the Medicare for All movement. COVID-19 brings out the pinko commie in NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, who decides to socialize the NY hospital systems. People of color are, as with everything health-related, hit disproportionately by the effects of COVID-19, with blacks being diagnosed and dying in greater numbers than all others. Show Notes Bernie Sanders drops out of the Presidential race, and Ben & Stephanie reflect on his impact on the Medicare for All movement. Bernie had very little noticeable impact on public support for M4A (based on public opinion polls anyway), but his biggest accomplishment was starting to close the massive gap between the base of the Democratic party (and the country) and Democratic legislators and candidates. However, coronavirus is having a major impact on public support for Medicare for All. The very first poll we've seen on M4A since the pandemic started shows an almost 10% increase in support. Why? COVID-19 has exposed pretty much every alternative to M4A as stupid. All of the Democratic candidates who fought to maintain the employer-based healthcare system - claiming this means "you can keep your plan if you like it" - have a lot of mud on their face. To date, no Republican has been sighted calling to repeal Obamacare since the crisis began. What could the GOP position on healthcare possibly be this election cycle? In one of the more extraordinary developments of the pandemic, New York has taken steps to merge all hospitals into a single provider system, sharing staff and all other resources. The goal is to prevent any one hospital from becoming overwhelmed by coronavirus patients, by sending staff, ventilators, and personal protective equipment wherever they're most needed. This resembles a move towards socialized medicine, even though New York's Governor Cuomo has been luke-warm towards the New York Health Act, which would establish a Medicare for All system in NY. Apparently there are no atheists in foxholes, and no capitalists during pandemics. Even before coronavirus, though, our profit-driven provider system was dangerous for patients. Ben describes a picket by nurses at St. Elizabeth's hospital in Boston, where dangerous understaffing was taking place just because the hospital didn't want to send patients to other hospitals with more capacity - since they'd be losing those profits. Coronavirus has also kicked off a remarkable 180 by a wide range of elected officials and policy wonks who have spent the past two years concern-trolling Medicare for All: how will we pay for it? you can't just overhaul the whole system over night! Now they're socializing hospital systems and passing multi-trillion dollar economic support programs. Next, we spend some time looking at the racial inequities in the impact of coronavirus, as well as in access to testing and treatment. In Chicago, black people are seven times more likely to die from coronavirus than white people. Of the 98 deaths from coronavirus in Chicago, 72% were black. In downtown Nashville, three drive-through testing centers, including one outside the historically black Meharry Medical College, were not able to open for weeks due to lack of protective equipment. The only two active testing centers were in white suburbs of Nashville, run by Vanderbilt Medical Center. Incredibly, the CDC is not tracking coronavirus data by race. One recent study looking at data from several states found that black patients presenting with the same symptoms, like cough and fever, were less likely to be recommended for coronavirus testing.

COVID-19 reveals what we knew all along: that employment-based health insurance is messed up. In this episode, we explore the consequences that unjust policies and an inadequate safety net have brought to bear in the face of a public health crisis. Joe Biden also takes some heat for doubling down on his opposition to Medicare for All. Show Notes The M4A podcast is back! We were down for 3 weeks while coronavirus took out our recording studio, but Ben & Stephanie recorded episode 8 from the comfort of their homes. Stephanie leaves out Joel Freedman, the venture capitalist who acquired Hanhemann Hospital in Philadelphia, ran it into the ground, then tried to profit off the pandemic crisis by offering to re-open the hospital for COVID-19 patients for $1 million per month. First we look at the relief bill passed by Congress to address the coronavirus crisis. While it requires health insurers to cover testing of coronavirus for free, it does not require health insurers to provide free treatment for those who contract the virus. While some insurers are voluntarily waving co-payments and deductibles for treatment of coronavirus, many are not - and for "self-insured plans" - which is most large employers - each individual employer can choose whether they want to cover coronavirus treatment for free for their employees. This is why a "multi-payer" healthcare system is insane - every insurer and every employer gets to make a different decision about whether you can afford to receive care for the pandemic. To witness the insanity up-close, visit AHIP's page listing how every different insurer in the country is offering different levels of coverage for coronavirus patients - including some who are doing nothing but marketing their irrelevant "telehealth" packages. If you want to see what happens when you let employers choose their employee's healthcare access during a pandemic, look no further than Hobby Lobby, who's CEO has kept their stores open - risking the lives of customers and employees - because God told his wife they should. He has refused, however, to offer Hobby Lobby employees paid sick leave. Despite promises to the contrary by the CDC, Americans are in fact facing bills amounting to thousands of dollars when seeking - and receiving - care for coronavirus. This includes Walking Dead actor Daniel Newman, who went to the hospital with flu-like symptoms and left with a $9,000+ hospital bill - but no diagnosis of whether he has COVID-19 or not. When a blond, muscle-bound Hollywood can't get care for coronavirus without being bankrupted, we are all fucked! One silver lining of the crisis: the Trump administration has been forced to back off new regulations that penalize immigrants for accessing Medicaid when they apply to become citizens. Flashing back to the last Democratic debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, Biden rejected the notion that Medicare for All would help with addressing the coronavirus crisis, and instead recommends only requiring coverage of testing and treatment for COVID-19. Stephanie reminds Joe that the millions of people who lose their jobs during this crisis (40 million projected in April alone), are going to lose access to all healthcare... because we don't have Medicare for All. Ben & Stephanie discuss the mind-boggling fact that Congress's relief bill included no provision for extending healthcare coverage to any unemployed people. It is harder than people think to qualify for Medicaid or subsidized care through the Affordable Care Act, and in states that did not expand Medicaid, uninsurance levels are going to be catastrophic. Already,

Medicare for All wins Super Tuesday, even if its most loyal candidates did not. The stock market - especially healthcare stocks - freaked over Sanders's rise, and then stabilized after Biden’s comeback. Profits safe! Gillian Mason, Director of Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, talks about giving power back to workers with Medicare for All. Elizabeth Warren’s descent in the polls is attributed to her support of Medicare for All, but really was it? We end with Warren’s eloquent takedown of Pete Buttigieg’s Medicare for All Who Want It. The pod is co-hosted this week by Gillian Mason, Co-Director of Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, who met Ben over a decade ago when they were arrested at a civil disobedience action outside of Cigna's offices! Gillian in a previous life was an adjunct Professor, but couldn't get access to healthcare through her job(s), and so became an activist to fight for workers' rights instead. A majority of Democratic voters supported Medicare for All in every single state that voted on Super Tuesday, including huge majorities in states like VT, ME, TX, and MN. However, the candidates championing M4A did not do nearly as well. Ben & Gillian discuss some explanations for the disconnect, including the media and the role of local gatekeepers, but are mostly confused. Ben suggests that Medicare for All should run for President. The day after Super Tuesday (post-traumatic stress Wednesday?), healthcare stocks also sky-rocketed based on the diminished chances of a M4A champion becoming the Democratic nominee for President. Most for-profit health insurance companies saw double-digit increases in their stock values. It's clear that Wall Street is afraid of the Medicare for All movement, but this also highlights what an unethical investment for-profit healthcare is - it is literally built on the denial of care. The Economic Policy Institute released a white paper outlining the many benefits that Medicare for All would have for workers and the labor market: increased wages and salaries; job growth, even in the healthcare sector; elimination of "job lock" where people are held hostage at jobs just to keep their health benefits; and would particularly help female workers, who disproportionately work at jobs that don't provide benefits. Gillian highlights the destruction our healthcare system has on the union and non-union workers she works with at Jobs with Justice: it is the number #1 issue that unions strike over. Finally, Elizabeth Warren drops out of the Presidential race. Pundits have started arguing that she fell in the polls after leaning-into Medicare for All by releasing a financing plan and a transition plan. Ben and Gillian feel the more compelling reason was her hesitancy to embrace taxes as a financing mechanism for Medicare for All, and distancing herself from the Senate bill. We end the podcast with a thank-you to Warren for her epic take-down of Pete Buttigieg's "Medicare for All Who Want It" proposal during the debates. Follow & Support the Pod! You can listen to Medicare for All on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or visit our website here. Please donate to the Healthcare-NOW Education Fund to support the podcast!

Joe Biden wins his first, and so far only, primary with the help of Medicare for All supporters. Trump’s team doesn’t believe in the coronavirus, but if it does exist, Medicare for All would make it worse (?!?). Centrist policy experts trash the Yale Medicare for All study and then trash the entire policy of Medicare for All for good measure. Stephanie birddogs Joe Kennedy at an event for the Patients over Profits Pledge, and Connecticut passes its first municipal resolution in favor of Medicare for All! Show Notes Pete Buttigieg drops out of the race. R.I.P. "Medicare for All Who Want It" - you were basically just a public option gift-wrapped with language to co-opt the Medicare for All movement. Exit polls show that 50% of primary voters in South Carolina back Medicare for All - marking the 4th straight primary where M4A has pulled out a majority. But surprisingly, a majority of M4A supporters in South Carolina backed Joe Biden! Our hot take: the M4A movement handed Joe Biden his first primary win ever, after 3 presidential runs. Show us some love, Joe! The Partnership for America's Health Care Future also spent $200,000 running an ad blitz in South Carolina opposing Medicare for All. They had to make two new ads so they'd have black people in them, and in the process added some brazen lies about M4A increasing your taxes AND your premiums. However, our ally the Debs-Jones-Douglass Institute organized an impressive "I'm a Medicare for All Voter" campaign in South Carolina. While we'll never outspend the healthcare industry, this campaign spoke with 10s of thousands of SC voters, and collected more than 10,000 pledges from SC residents to vote only for a candidate that supports Medicare for All. This is far more impactful than $200k in ads. Also, crucially important: Charles Brave, the President of the South Carolina AFL-CIO, published an op-ed in the Charleston Chronicle about how Medicare for All is good for union workers and is supported by the SC labor movement. This set a very different tone from Nevada, where the Culinary Union made waves by attacking M4A - even though the Nevada AFL-CIO has ALSO voted to support Medicare for All as their official position. Coronavirus! The House Ways & Means Committee held a hearing on the coronavirus threat, where Trump's Secretary of Health & Human Services, Alex Azar, weighed in on... how Medicare for All will ruin America, crying crocodile tears for union workers. When he was actually questioned about developing a vaccine for coronavirus, Azar incredibly replied that it may not be affordable for everyone because we need the private sector to invest in the vaccine, and they won't do it with price controls (!!!!!!!!). Many others made the connection between the coronavirus threat and Medicare for All. AOC weighed in from the perspective of restaurant workers - Stephanie adds her own horrifying story of being forced to continue working at her restaurant job while suffering from mono and strept throat! Helaine Olen made the basic case that it is impossible for a country to contain a pandemic if people are afraid to go to the doctor due to unaffordable costs. Sally Pipes, however, made the conservative argument that countries with Medicare for All are LESS prepared to contain pandemics, because they have so few hospital beds, doctors, and medical resources. This claim hits 100 on the bullshit meter! The U.S. has among the fewest hospital beds, and among the fewest number of physicians per 1,000 residents of all the developed nations. We have 2.8 hospital beds per 1,000 people - Japan has 13.1 beds per 1,000 people; Germany has 8; etc. The U.S. has 2.6 physicians per 1,000 people,

Nevada’s largest and most influential union bucks leadership to support Medicare for All; new study from Yale economists is added to the extensive body of research arguing Medicare for All would save lives and billions of dollars; Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar’s healthcare plans finally receive some scrutiny, thanks to Elizabeth Warren Show Notes The Nevada Democratic debate turns into a blood bath! Elizabeth Warren goes after the healthcare plans of Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg - plans that have received almost zero scrutiny during the election cycle. Stephanie takes on the Klobuchar healthcare plan for a public option, which is one paragraph long and offers no details. In that paragraph she says she supports universal health - and links to a tweet of hers about rural hospital funding as evidence. Weird?! She also says that her public option would be based on Medicare... or Medicaid. Kind of an important difference! Ben critiques the Pete Buttigieg "Medicare for All Who Want It" proposal, which involves a public option and what's called "retroactive enrollment" - if you are uninsured and go to a hospital, you will be retroactively enrolled in the public option plan, even if you have to pay the premiums for it. Morning Consult just ran a poll that found only 24% of Americans support a public option when coupled with retroactive enrollment - far less than support for Medicare for All. This completely undermines Buttigieg's claim that Medicare for All is "divisive," and that there is broader support for his plan. Make sure to check out Healthcare-NOW's page on the Presidential candidates' healthcare positions if you haven't already! Also in the world of shocking new polls, NORC released a new survey finding that 8 million Americans have had to launch a crowdfunding campaign to pay for medical bills. Stephanie relates the story of her two friends fighting cancer - one in Denmark with comprehensive, coordinated care, and the other in the U.S. who had to launch a fundraising campaign to pay for the family's cancer care costs. The survey also asks "Who Should be Responsible for Providing Help When Medical Care is Unaffordable?” - although this precludes supporting Medicare for All in the answer, 60% of respondents picked "Government" first - over hospitals, clinics, charities, and doctors - and they picked family and friends last. Americans are not "anti-Government" when it comes to assuming responsibility for our healthcare security. A major new economic analysis of Medicare for All by Yale economists found that Medicare for All would cover everyone, save more than $450 billion per year, and prevent more than 68,000 unnecessary deaths from lacking health insurance. Ben points out that this is the latest in more than 4 decades of economic research on Medicare for All. While Joe Biden has been claiming we don't know how much M4A will cost, and don't have a plan to pay for it, there is far more research and certainty about paying for M4A than there is for his plan. The cost estimates for Biden's and Buttigieg's plans were created by their own consultants, without saying where their data is from or what assumptions they're making, whereas multiple peer-reviewed and credible economic analyses of Medicare for All have been published in the last three years alone. Finally we discuss the Nevada election outcomes! NBC entrance and exit polls found that 62% of Nevada caucus voters support Medicare for All - higher majorities than we saw in Iowa (57%) and New Hampshire (58%). Stephanie points out that this is in spite of the media frenzy over Nevada's Culinary Union attacking Medicare for All.

National Nurses United and partners launch a new campaign to expose and fight back against industry influence in the Medicare for All debate, inspired by the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge led by Sunrise and other climate change organizations. We’ll tell you how to get involved. The Nevada Culinary Union has come out hard against Medicare for All - but how does their plan stack up against M4A? Andrew Yang Drops out of the Presidential race, ending the most dramatic about-face on Medicare for All seen this year. And John Oliver’s segment on Medicare for All - what he got right, what he got wrong. Show Notes Ben and Stephanie talk about the massive new Medicare for All campaign launched this week by National Nurses United and a national coalition of organizations: the Patients Over Profits Pledge. The Pledge asks elected officials not to take campaign contributions from the corporations involved with the Partnership for America's Healthcare Future (PAHCF) - the coalition of Big Pharma, health insurers, and other corporate forces fighting Medicare for All. Why is this new campaign needed? As the Medicare for All movement has grown and racked up victories, the PAHCF has started spending millions to undermine healthcare as a right through ads and campaign donations. The campaign is based on the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge, which the environmental rights movement has successfully run since 2017. Almost every Democratic candidate for President in 2020 has signed the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge, and our goal is to similarly make money from the healthcare industry politically toxic. Some details of the campaign: any elected officials can sign the pledge, including local elected officials, and state legislators, but we particularly want to target Members of Congress. The campaign will start off by collecting petition signatures from members of our communities, and we will then deliver petitions to our elected officials during a week of action in April. Ben & Stephanie dive deep on the Nevada Culinary Union's opposition to Medicare for All, and feud with Bernie Sanders. Although the Union has not endorsed a candidate in the elections, they put out an incredibly misleading flyer for their members claiming that Sanders's Medicare for All plan would "end" their Culinary Healthcare plan, while other candidates would "protect" Culinary Healthcare. The Culinary Union then released a press release claiming that they believe "healthcare should be a right, not a privilege," and that "We [the union] have already enacted a vision for what working people need." It turns out, however, that the Culinary Union's plan allows more than $6,000 in out-of-pocket costs, and borrows some shady policies from the for-profit insurance industry to leave patients with huge ER bills. Culinary workers also have to work more than 30 hours/week for 3 months, plus an additional 1 month waiting period, before qualifying for health benefits, which they can lose if they don't work enough hours permanently. This is not a just healthcare system for workers. In other news, Andrew Yang has withdrawn from the presidential race. Ben goes off on how horrified he was when Yang, after running moving ads about his son with autism and the need for Medicare for All, abandoned his support for M4A in the middle of his campaign and announced a healthcare plan that would change - as far as we can tell - nothing for American patients. Finally, we love, love, love John Oliver's new segment on Medicare for All and his characterization of the public option as a "shit sandwich with guacamole." Ben & Stephanie take issue with Oliver's characterization of cost savings under...

Donald Trump’s State of the Union address includes some good old fashioned red-baiting re: Medicare for All. Centrist Democrats vying for the party’s nomination pile on, albeit from different angles, at the New Hampshire debate. Parasite wins big at the Oscars!! Show Notes Ben dedicates the show to everyone who needs healthcare. Stephanie would like to exempt the makers of the Iowa caucus reporting app, who have kicked off the primaries by undermining our national faith in democracy (and Democracy). Stephanie reacts to a Washington Post poll showing that 6 out of 10 Iowa caucus voters support Medicare for All, despite WaPo using extremely biased language. Trump uses his 2020 State of the Union address to attack Medicare for All as a “socialist takeover of healthcare.” But, Ben points out, he says he will defend Medicare to the death. Socialism for seniors, ruthless capitalism for younger people? Trump also borrows from Biden’s talking points against M4A. Trump’s second attack on Medicare for All is that it will cover “illegal” immigrants. Ben points out that this is false – immigrants actually subsidize our healthcare system for U.S.-born residents. It’s also important for us to make the moral case for covering everyone, regardless of documentation status. During the New Hampshire Democratic primary debates, a heated argument takes place between Sanders and Buttigieg over whether Medicare for All is politically divisive or politically unifying. Stephanie points out Buttigieg is actually trying to CREATE a division between those with health insurance, by fear mongering that they will somehow lose coverage, and those without, who desperately need universal coverage. Joe Biden goes after Medicare for all on a cost basis, and makes up a bunch of shit about what happened in Vermont. You don’t have to be an economist to know that M4A costs less – just look at all of the countries who have it, who spend less. Also, Vermont never implemented Medicare for All, but Joe didn’t get the memo! Amy Klobuchar runs out of arguments against Medicare for All and decides to argue that the debate over M4A “isn’t real.” Finally, a side-note about the social determinants of health from the Oscars! Social status is the single-most important determinant of how long you live and how healthy your life will be – far more important than access to healthcare. This is true not just for low-income people, but even among the very wealthy and privileged. Researchers have found that Oscar winners live 4 years longer than actors and actresses nominated for an Oscar who don’t win! Our new campaign: Oscars for all! Follow & Support the Pod! You can listen to Medicare for All on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or visit our website here. Please donate to the Healthcare-NOW Education Fund to support the podcast!

PACs are advertising in Iowa not only for candidates - but also against Medicare for All. Listen in on some of the ads and break them down with us. Also - an update on where California is on establishing a state single payer healthcare system. Show Notes This week Stephanie would like to exempt Michael Bloomberg from our Medicare for All plan, after he was shoe-horned into the Democratic debates, because of... he's rich. The Iowa caucuses are underway as Ben & Stephanie are recording, and they take a look at the ads the Partnership for America's Healthcare Future (PAHCF) are running in Iowa and other primary states to attack Medicare for All. Listen here to the PAHCF ad called "Same Thing," which claims that a public option and Medicare for All are the SAME THING. Weird? What are the goals of the healthcare industry in conflating a public option and Medicare for All? Ben & Stephanie highlight how this undermines the claim that a public option is more politically feasible than Medicare for All. Things get even stranger in the world of Medicare for All campaign ads. We break down a campaign ad run by Kansas State Senator Susan Wagle attacking Barbara Bollier, who are both running for U.S. Senate in Kansas; as well as an ad by Better Future Michigan attacking Gary Peters for supporting Medicare for All. What makes these ads truly insane, beyond trying to paint a picture of a dystopian future under universal healthcare? Neither Barbara Bollier nor Gary Peters actually support Medicare for All! Finally, Ben & Stephanie briefly discuss the newly created "Healthy California for All Commission," which had its first meeting on January 27 to develop a plan for a single-payer healthcare system. You can see the Commission's mandate and all of its meetings here. A similar Commission is being created in Oregon - both are the results of organizing by the Medicare for All movement! Follow & Support the Pod! You can listen to Medicare for All on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or visit our website here. Please donate to the Healthcare-NOW Education Fund to support the podcast!

The very first episode of the "Medicare for All" podcast! Ben & Stephanie talk about their struggles to access and afford healthcare in America, and how they became organizers in the Medicare for All movement. Finally, they talk about what they'll be brining to listeners on the Medicare for All podcast! Show Notes Ben dedicates the episode to everyone who needs healthcare - Stephanie asks to leave out Rand Paul, who says that universal healthcare is the same as slavery. Stephanie talks about how her eyes were opened to the need for Medicare for All when she moved to Japan, and was given access to comprehensive public healthcare for about $20/month when she became a resident. This after years of being uninsured and underinsured in the United States while living with asthma. She moved back to the U.S. to be with friends and family... and to fuck up the insurance companies. Ben also wants to fuck up the insurance companies. He got into the movement after being admitted to a hospital with panic attacks years ago, AFTER which his insurance company refused to cover his claim, leaving him with a $4k bill. Since then he's been a full-time organizer in the Medicare for All movement for 15 years. Ben & Stephanie are launching this podcast because the M4A movement has come so far, but it will be a major fight to win in the end. Media coverage of Medicare for All also tends to be super biased, and there's a need for real talk on this social movement! The podcast will discuss and analyze the big political fights over healthcare in Congress and at the state level. It will also cover victories in the social movement to win Medicare for All, which is never discussed in the news. Finally, the podcast will serve as personal therapy for both Ben & Stephanie so they can get many, many grievances with healthcare politics off their chests!