Medicare For All Explained

Racial Inequities in Health Care

This is episode 28, “Racial Inequities in Health Care.”

My guest, Susan Rogers, MD, FACP, is the president-elect of Physicians for a National Health Program. She has recently retired, but continues helping people as a volunteer attending hospitalist and internist at the John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, Illinois. Previously, Dr. Rogers was the co-director of medical student programs for the Department of Medicine at Stroger Hospital. She is also an assistant professor of medicine at Rush University and an assistant professor of medicine at Rosalind Franklin University. She has received numerous teaching awards from Stroger Hospital, Rush University, and Rosalind Franklin University.

Dr. Rogers is a member and Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP), and a member of the Society of General Internal Medicine and the National Medical Association.

Do not miss this episode as Dr. Rogers describes the racial inequities in our current health care system system and what can be done to address them.

Stop Using Health Insurance Industry Language

This is episode 27, “Stop Using Health Insurance Industry Language”

My guest, Ben Palmquist, is the Health Care Program Director for the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI). He does research, communications, and strategy to help grassroots organizations build power to win universal, publicly financed health care and to transform our economy and public policies to meet everyone's needs and put people ahead of profits.

Do not miss this episode as Mr. Palmquist describes how we use language developed by the health insurance companies to describe a publicly financed health care system.

Here is the link to the article mentioned in this podcast, "Parroting the Right."

Surprise Medical Bills

This is episode 26, “Surprise Medical Bills”

My guest Mark Krasnoff, MD, is an internist in St. Louis, Missouri. He received his MD from Johns Hopkins and teaches students and residents as a member of the clinical faculty for Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis University School of Medicine.

Dr. Krasnoff has also held positions as President of the Medical Staff of SSM Rehabilitation Hospital and as chair of the peer review committee at St. Mary's Hospital in St. Louis.

He has been involved with Physicians for Social Responsibility since 1987 and with Physicians for a National Health Program since 2012.

Do not miss this episode as Dr. Krasnoff describes the problems and anxiety caused by surprise medical bills.

Insurance Companies Are Practicing Medicine, And They Are Doing It in a Way That If a Doctor Did That, They Would Absolutely Lose Their License

This is episode 25, “Insurance Companies Are Practicing Medicine, And They Are Doing It in a Way That If a Doctor Did That, They Would Absolutely Lose Their License.”

My guest, William Bennett, MD, is a Pediatric Gastroenterologist. He is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Urology at Indiana University. In addition, Dr. Bennett has an M.S. in both Computer Science and Health Informatics and has written and co-written several papers.

Do not miss this episode as Dr. Bennett describes the problems of letting untrained insurance clerks make medical decisions, other problems with our corporate-run health care system, and why we need to end our corporate-run health care system.

Correction: In this episode I said, “In my most recent podcast episode before this, I had a doctor on, Dr. Victoria Dooley.” That was “Episode 23: The Average Family Is Going to Get Much More and Pay Much Less,” which was two podcast episodes before this.

Why Drug Prices Are So Expensive in the United States

This is episode 24, “Why Drug Prices Are So Expensive in the United States.”

My guest Donald Light explains why drug prices are so high in the United States and the deficiencies in our current drug regulation system.

Donald Light is a Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Sociology at Rowan University-School of Osteopathic Medicine. He is a guest researcher at Princeton and New York University. Prof. Light received the Edmund Pellegrino Medal in Bioethics for 2016 and the Distinguished Career Award for 2013 from the American Sociological Association. On the Google citation h-index, Prof. Light ranks in the 96th percentile.

Do not miss this episode as Prof. Light describes the problems of our current drug regulatory system and explains why our drug prices are so high.

For more information about drug regulation and pricing, check out Prof. LIght’s website, http://www.pharmamyths.net/.

Prof. Light’s book, “The Risks of Prescription Drugs,” can be found here and here.

The Average Family Is Going to Get Much More and Pay Much Less

This is episode 23, "The Average Family Is Going to Get Much More and Pay Much Less."

In this episode, my guest, Victoria Dooley, MD, describes the problems patients and doctors face under our current health care system and how Medicare for All will solve those problems.

Dr. Dooley is a board-certified Family Medicine physician, a member of Physicians for a National Health Program, and a health care activist.

She has appeared on numerous live radio and television broadcasts, and she was a weekly contributing medical expert on ABC WXYZ-TV news in Detroit for over two years. Dr. Dooley has published op-eds in the The New York Times and the HuffPost.

Do not miss this episode as Dr. Dooley describes the problems of our current health care system and how Medicare for All can solve them.

Mothers for Medicare for All – Part 2

This is episode 22, “Mothers for Medicare for All – Part 2.”

In Part 2, my guest Kristen Grimm, founder of Mothers for Medicare for All, continues the conversation by explaining her decision to start Mothers for Medicare for All and her plans for the organization.

Do not miss this episode as Ms. Grimm continues her riveting and powerful story about her support of Medicare for All and her decision to start her own organization.

 

Mothers for Medicare for All - Part 1

In episode 21, “Mothers for Medicare for All – Part 1,” my guest Kristen Grimm, founder of Mothers for Medicare for All, describes the struggles she and her family endured as they fought to get medical care for her son who suffers from a rare medical condition and has had 24 surgeries in his lifetime. Ms. Grimm describes how her experiences led her to support Medicare for All.

Ms. Grimm’s story is riveting and powerful. Please do not miss this episode.

In Part 2, to be released on Oct 15^th, the conversation continues with Ms. Grimm as she explains her decision to start Mothers for Medicare for All and her plans for the organization.

 

Dealing with HIV

This is episode 20, “Dealing with HIV.”

My guest, Kenyon Farrow,  was named a "Modern Black History Hero" by Black Entertainment Television.

He is an award-winning writer, activist, and strategist. He has worked on local and national campaigns on issues related to criminalization/mass imprisonment, homelessness, health justice and LGBT rights.

Mr. Farrow is currently the senior editor with TheBody.com,  a news and information site focused on HIV, LGBT health, and social justice, and serves on the board of the New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG).

Do not miss episode 20 as Mr. Farrow describes how our current health care system prevents people with HIV from getting necessary care and how Medicare for All would help them and would help reduce the transmission of HIV.

Please note that there was a connection problem during the interview that sometimes affected audio quality.

How Do We Meet the Needs of People Who Need Mental Health Services? Poorly!

This is episode 19, “How Do We Meet the Needs of People Who Need Mental Health Services? Poorly!”

My guest, Doctor Leslie Gise, MD, is a psychiatrist who has practiced in New York City for 30 years, and then practiced in Hawaii for 24 years. She loves psychiatry, but quit practicing because of the intrusions of managed care. In Hawaii, she has worked in the public sector for 20 years treating disadvantaged people with severe mental illness. Half of them had substance use disorders as well.

Doctor Gise has served as the Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the John A Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. She has been on the faculty of medical schools for 48 years

Doctor Gise is a Past-President of two national professional organizations. She has reviewed for many journals and has many publications. She has made presentations all over the world and has been quoted extensively in the media.

Do not miss episode 19 as Dr. Gise describes how our current health care system fails to meet the needs of people who require mental health services and how Medicare for All can help.