Code WACK!

In celebration of our first 100 podcasts and in light of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, we are re-visiting a podcast that is just as relevant today as it was last year:   What human behaviors lead to pandemics like COVID-19?  Why should we expect to face more pandemics in the future?   And how can we best prepare for them?   Join host  Brenda Gazzar  and  Dr. Tony Iton , senior vice president for...

In celebration of our first 100 Code WACK! episodes, we're revisiting one of our very first - and most disturbing - podcasts . It's about how our 'wack' healthcare system, with its confusing mess of various insurance plans, treats patients very differently depending on who pays the claims. Tragically, it's as relevant today as ever! Guests Dr. Ron Birnbaum and Dr. Paul Y. Song reveal to host Brend...

Ever think about your personal vulnerability in the face of a health challenge? A car accident, the flu, or a cancer diagnosis can have severe consequences, including emotional and economic chaos. Why? Because right when we need to focus on getting well, we find ourselves struggling to navigate a confusing health insurance labyrinth designed around someone else's profit. Join guest Kayla Westergar...

Listen as guest Kayla Westergard-Dobson describes the health insurance nightmare she and her husband are still grappling with after the tragic death of their premature son, Arthur.  It all started the day after her emergency C-section (while still on high-powered pain killers) with a call from the hospital billing department requesting about $3,800. A year after Arthur's passing and a seemingly ne...

Join Dr. Howard Pinderhughes and host Brenda Gazzar as they discuss innovative programs that are helping to heal community trauma. Is community healing simply psychological and emotional, or is it more? What is the role of the community in the healing process? How could our healthcare system go beyond treating the individual to promoting community wellness?   Click here for Show Notes ! And here f...

Join Howard Pinderhughes, Ph. D. professor and department chair, Social & Behavioral Sciences Dept, School of Nursing, University of California San Francisco and host Brenda Gazzar as they discuss trauma and its impact on both individuals and communities .  Click here for Show Notes Click here for episode transcript Click here for Dr. Pinderhughes' biography    

Show Notes: Is 'Now' Our Moment for Healthcare Justice?   Assemblyman Ash Kalra represents California's 27th District which encompasses about half of the city of San Jose in the Silicon Valley.  The first Indian-American to serve in the state's legislature, he has established himself as a progressive leader on issues ranging from criminal justice reform to the environment to health care and housin...

Check out Code WACK! 's latest illuminating podcast, the first of two featuring Assemblyman Ash Kalra discussing his healthcare legislation  AB 1400, California Health Care for All    Show Notes     California Medicare for All? Assemblyman Ash Kalra is all in!  What's California's latest single-payer bill all about? Get the facts from its author, California Assemblyman Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), who...

Show Notes   The Power of Labor in California's Battle for Single Payer   Check out Code WACK! 's latest insightful podcast, the second of two featuring Cindy Young, labor advocate and expert in health benefit negotiations, discussing how best to work with the labor movement in the fight for single-payer, Medicare for All.   Host Brenda Gazzar and Young, board member of the California Alliance for...

Show Notes   Check out Code WACK! 's latest podcast featuring Cindy Young , labor advocate and expert in health benefit negotiations, discussing the significance of the labor movement in America's struggle for healthcare justice, and the need for Medicare for All.   Host Brenda Gazzar and Young, a board member of the California Alliance for Retired Americans and vice chair of the Healthy Californi...

SHOW NOTES Join Code WACK! for the second of two podcasts featuring Thom Hartmann on America's healthcare fiasco and what we can do about it.  After all, how does it help the nation's health to have insurance industry executives sucking millions of dollars out of the system while Americans deny themselves healthcare because they can't afford it? And why have our political leaders abandoned us to t...

Join us for a lively discussion with Thom Hartmann about how America's healthcare system got so screwed up!   You probably know Thom Hartmann as America's No. 1 progressive talk radio show host. But did you know that he's also a New York Times bestseller?  His latest book, "The Hidden History of American Health Care: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich, " is hot off the press...

What's the latest move to sell off traditional Medicare to venture capital and private equity? How will this affect your health care? Join host Brenda Gazzar and Dr. Ed Weisbart, board member of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) , to learn about "direct contracting entities." What are they? How do they make money? Why is this a problem? And what can we do about it?

Despite the barrage of television commercials touting Medicare Advantage , is it really superior to traditional Medicare ? How do the two programs differ on coverage, access and cost? Join host Brenda Gazzar and Dr. Ed Weisbart , retired family physician, former chief medical officer of Express Scripts and board member of Physicians for a National Health Program , for a deep dive into dismaying de...

What essential coverage could Improved Medicare for All offer seniors that they can't get through original Medicare? And what's California up to when it comes to healthcare reform? Another commission? Really? Host Brenda Gazzar and Jodi Reid , executive director of the California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA), share updates from the Golden State and talk about how we can trigger the politi...

What was health care like for American seniors before we had Medicare? How has Medicare helped keep retirees out of poverty? What are the gaps in Medicare today? How would Medicare for All be different? Join host Brenda Gazzar and Jodi Reid , executive director of the California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA), California's largest, grassroots senior advocacy organization, in a discussion of...

What is the connection between colonization and the American healthcare system? How has systemic exploitation impacted the health of the most vulnerable among us?   How will our healthcare system respond to the new diseases climate change will bring? Could Medicare for All help? Join host Brenda Gazzar and guests Rupa Marya, MD and Raj Patel, PhD in this second podcast on their new book "Inflamed:...

Is there a link between inflammation of the Earth and inflammation in our bodies? What about the disparate impact of climate change on BIPOC communities? How are concepts like "choice" being weaponized to absolve our responsibilities to one other? Join host Brenda Gazzar and guests Rupa Marya, MD and Raj Patel, PhD in a wide-ranging discussion of their new book "Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Ana...

What if you got a really terrible diagnosis in your mid-40s? "Terrible" as in "unimaginably expensive?" "Terrible" as in "terminal?" Would you want to spend the time you have left on hold , searching for some kind of insurance for the chance to save or at least prolong your life? What are your options, really? Hear heart-failure patient Joel Sloan explain to host Brenda Gazzar what he's gone throu...

It's tough enough to be born with a genetic predisposition to heart disease. Tougher still to suffer advanced heart failure at 43. Then add in an HIV diagnosis and a hyper-fragmented healthcare system. What if your health plan won't pay for your heart transplant because of a pre-existing condition or some other reason? Join Joel Sloan and Brenda Gazzar as they delve into the disturbing details of...

How has America's lack of a national, coordinated response to COVID affected us? What about the attacks on America's public sector? Why did simply having to go to work turn out to be the single biggest issue Black Americans faced during the pandemic? Join host Brenda Gazzar and Chicago's own Dr. Linda Rae Murray, MD, MPH , as they take a deep dive on the structural reasons for America's fragmented...

How is racism baked into American society? What role has medicine played in propagating it?  How does racism in health care affect Black and indigenous peoples?  Listen as "full-time troublemaker"  Dr. Linda Rae Murray, MD, MPH, former Chief Medical Officer - Primary Care for the Cook County Bureau of Health Services and host Brenda Gazzar discuss the artificial separation between social, structur...

Does commercial health insurance - when it's actually affordable - even provide the kinds of coverage restaurant workers need to cope with backbreaking work and emotional abuse? Who would want to risk catching COVID to do a job that pays $2.13 an hour plus tips? Join Brenda Waybrant, union organizer and former long-time restaurant worker , and host Brenda Gazzar as they discuss how COVID was a wak...

What health challenges do restaurant workers face as a result of their work? How did they fare during COVID? Can most restaurant workers really afford to miss a shift due to illness? Join Brenda Waybrant , union organizer and former long-time restaurant worker in Nashville, and host Brenda Gazzar as they discuss how private health insurance - whether employer-sponsored or from the marketplace - re...

How do health insurance companies avoid insuring more costly patients?   What's a "trojan horse" when it comes to single-payer legislation? Does financing health care through an insurance system make sense? Join Dr. Stephen Kemble , practicing psychiatrist and past president of the Hawaii Medical Association, and Brenda Gazzar as they discuss one of the biggest challenges to winning Medicare for A...