Medicare For All Explained

This is episode 61, “To Be or Not to Be Health Insurance, That Is the Tricare Question.” My guest Miryam Weisberg is a mother of two and lives in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Disabled by a rare genetic disorder, her health relies on Tricare and the military medical system, to which she has access as an earned benefit of her husband's career as an active duty officer.  Previous to becoming disabl...

This is episode 60, "Highlights, Volume 1." In this episode, I take clips that highlight important points about Medicare for All. I highlight: What Medicare for All is Why the public option won't work Why our current healthcare system is not affordable Why you can't be sure that insurance clerks are giving you accurate information How insurance companies arbitrarily make patients change medication...

This is episode 59, “Medicaid Expansion, Missouri, and the Will of the People.”  My guest, Traci Gleason, is Vice President, External Relations for the Missouri Budget Project . Before joining the Missouri Budget Project, she worked on public policy issues at all levels of government, federal, state, and local. Ms. Gleason also worked as a federal representative for the State of California, held p...

This is episode 58, “What You Need To Know About Medicare, Medigap, Medicare (Dis)Advantage, and How Medicare for All Benefits Seniors, Part 2.“ My guest, Diane Archer, is founder and president of Just Care USA, an independent digital media hub that focuses on health and financial issues facing boomers and their parents. Ms. Archer serves on the Brown University School of Public Health Advisory Bo...

This is episode 57, “What You Need To Know About Medicare, Medigap, Medicare (Dis)Advantage, and How Medicare for All Benefits Seniors, Part 1.“ My guest, Diane Archer, is founder and president of Just Care USA , an independent digital media hub that focuses on health and financial issues facing boomers and their parents. Ms. Archer serves on the Brown University School of Public Health Advisory B...

This is episode 56, “How Medicare For All Would Benefit People With Disabilities and the LGBTQIA Community.” My guest, Rosie Bean, has been politically engaged from an early age. They are a part of the LGBTQIA community and a disabled individual. This has made the fight for justice personal for Rosie. They started out as a moderate liberal Democrat, but had a political awakening that caused them t...

This is episode 55, "Racism Is a Public Health Threat." My guest, Ronald Wyatt, MD, is a board-certified Internist and practiced medicine for over twenty years in St. Louis, Missouri, and Huntsville, Alabama. He was the first Black chief resident at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine. Dr. Wyatt co-chairs the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Equity Advisory Group and is faculty...

This is episode 54, “Getting a State Medical Society to Support Medicare for All.”  My guest, Jane Katz Field, MD, is a retired pediatrician. She has been a Clinical Instructor in pediatrics at the University of Vermont School of Medicine and a clinical instructor or professor at other medical schools. In addition, Dr. Katz Field has worked for the New Jersey State Health Department.   Do not miss...

This is episode 53, "Health Disparities in the US Before And After the Pandemic." My guest, Monica Maalouf, MD, is a primary care internist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine. She went to medical school at the University of Minnesota and completed her residency training at New York University School of Medicine in New York City. Her medical interests include H...

This is episode 52, “How We Can Meet the Mental Health Needs of Children and Adolescents.” My guest, Claire Cohen, MD, is an African-American psychiatrist who specializes in children and adolescents, and has practiced in Pittsburgh since 1984. She did her General Psychiatry Residency at the University of Chicago. Dr. Cohen then moved to Pittsburgh to do her Child and Adolescent Fellowship at the U...

This is episode 51, “Public Option, Unions, Obligation, Part 2.“ My guest, James McGee, has spent his career in and around collectively bargained benefit plans, especially health care plans. He has primarily worked on union benefit plans, which are technically known as Taft-Hartley plans.  Mr. McGee recently retired after 17 years working for the Transit Employees' Health & Welfare Fund as its Exe...

This is episode 50, “Public Option, Unions, Obligation, Part 1.“ My guest, James McGee, has spent his career in and around collectively bargained benefit plans, especially health care plans. He has primarily worked on union benefit plans, which are technically known as Taft-Hartley plans.  Mr. McGee recently retired after 17 years working for the Transit Employees' Health & Welfare Fund as its Exe...

This is episode 49, “A Local Resolution Supporting Medicare For All.” My guest, Holly Hatcher, is a registered nurse in Madison, Wisconsin, and is a Dane County Board Supervisor. She is a mother, grandmother, activist, and Medicare for All Advocate.  Ms. Hatcher was instrumental in passing a local resolution in Dane County that supported Medicare for All and was approved on January 7, 2021 .  Do n...

This is episode 48, “Covid and Racial Inequities.” My guest, Susan Rogers, MD, FACP, is the president of Physicians for a National Health Program. She is recently retired, but continues helping people as a volunteer attending hospitalist and internist at the John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, Illinois. She is an assistant professor of medicine at Rush University, and previously was the c...

This is episode 47,  “The U.S. Pandemic Response and How to Improve It.”  My guest, James G. Kahn, MD, MPH, is Emeritus Professor in the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, the Institute for Global Health Sciences, and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco. He has published widely on the cost and cost-effectiveness of HIV pre...

This is episode 46, “Medicaid Is Helpful; Medicare for All Would Be Better.”  My guest, Emily Leonard, is a Health Policy Analyst for Medicaid for the state of Maryland. Her work focuses on developing and implementing Medicaid programs to meet the unique needs of the state’s residents. She received her Master’s degree in Public Health Practice and Policy from the University of Maryland, College Pa...

This is episode 45, “Falling Back in Love With Clinical Practice.”  My guest, Anna Stratis, MD, is a Canadian-trained family physician with a passion for working with people in communities and improving healthcare and quality of life. She has a broad spectrum of experience in adult and pediatric primary care. Dr. Stratis has practiced in Canada and the United States. She volunteered at a New York...

This is episode 44, "Why We Need the Medicare for All Act." My guest, Stephanie Kang, is the Health Policy Advisor for Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. Representative Jayapal introduced H.R. 1384, the Medicare for All Act of 2019, and Ms. Kang assisted in finalizing that bill.  Ms. Kang has an MS in Global Health from Northwestern University and is a third-year Doctor of Public Health candidate at t...

This is episode 43, "Disaster Preparedness and COVID-19." My guest, Karl Kim, is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and Director of the graduate program in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance.  Prof. Kim is currently director of the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center , authorized by the U.S. Congress to develop and deliver FEMA cer...

This is episode 42, “State Level Medicare for All: Is It Possible?”  My guest, Matthew Lawrence, J.D., is an Associate Professor of Law at Emory University, and specializes in health care finance, administrative law, and addictions. He has written widely on these subjects with articles published or forthcoming in several prominent law journals.  In addition to his teaching and scholarship, Lawrenc...

This is episode 41, “Racism, Health Care, and Medicare for All.” My guest, Sanjeev Sriram, MD, MPH, is a pediatrician in Southeast Washington, DC, and is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine.  Dr. Sriram is the Senior Advisor on Medicaid for Social Security Works, a grassroots advocacy organization dedicated to protecting and expanding Social...

This is episode 40, "Join the Fight." My guest, Chrissy Holt, has a Masters of Science in Social Psychology from the London School of Economics and is a seasoned businesswoman who has lived or worked in North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Australia, and England. Her 30-year career has varied from CareerBuilder to Disney Institute now, and she has held multiple leadership positions. Her role the Dis...

This is episode 39, “How Medicare Integrated Hospitals.” It is a special episode to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the passage of Medicare on July 30, 1965. My guest, Dr. Barbara Berney, MPH, PhD, produced the documentary, “Power to Heal: Medicare and the Civil Rights Revolution.” The film describes how the creation of Medicare was used to desegregate thousands of hospitals in a few months.  He...

This is episode 38, “Health Inequality and Physical Structure.” My guest, Gracie Himmelstein, and her sister, Kathryn Himmelstein, MD, cowrote a paper, " Inequality Set in Concrete ," which examines how unequal hospital facilities and capital assets contribute to ongoing racial disparities in health. Gracie is an MD candidate at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and a PhD candidate in D...

This is episode 37, “A Living Wage Home Cleaning Company and COVID-19.” My guest, Aaron Seyedian, is originally from a small town in Western New York and has lived in the Washington, DC area for nearly 15 years. He created Well-Paid Maids to help bolster the living-wage movement by demonstrating that living-wage businesses can be successful in traditionally low-paying industries. Prior to founding...