THIS TIME ON CODE WACK!
Single payer is back in the spotlight with Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Pramila Jayapal submitting new Medicare for All bills for 2025-26! How will the upcoming National Day of Action on May 31st keep the need for healthcare reform in the spotlight? And how do physicians feel about single payer today, 60 years after the American Medical Association’s infamous ‘stealth campaign’ against socialized medicine (starring none other than Ronald Reagan)?
To find out, we recently talked to Dr. Ana Malinow, who spent three decades working as a pediatrician with immigrant, refugee and underserved children before retiring as clinical professor of Pediatrics from UC San Francisco School of Medicine. The past president of Physicians for a National Health Program, she is on the steering committee of National Single Payer. She’s also a lead organizer for The Movement to End Privatization of Medicare.
This is the second episode in a two-part series.
Check out the Transcript and Show Notes for more!
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SHOW NOTES
WE DISCUSS
What kind of pressure are you trying to create with the upcoming National Day of Action for Single Payer, and who are you hoping to influence?
“We are trying to build an unstoppable movement. A movement that cannot be denied or placated or bought or intimidated.
“A movement of people who have suffered and are ready to say no more, who are aware of the corrupt system of wealthy corporations, of wealthy donors, and the bought-out politicians who keep hoping that we will settle for crumbs, who hope that we just go on the defensive to defend the status quo when what we really need to do is to go on the offensive and say, no, we don’t want, you know, what the Trump administration is giving us, but we also don’t wanna go back to the status quo.
“We need to demand that which is achievable, but only if we stand up together and demand.” – Ana Malinow, MD
Back in 1961, the American Medical Association had Ronald Reagan record an LP warning against “socialized medicine.” Where do doctors stand today? And what is your vision for how they can drive change?
“Fortunately things have changed for the better since 1961. Unfortunately, the American Medical Association has not changed its tune. But what I always like to say is that only … 19% of physicians belong to the American Medical Association. So the AMA does not [represent] the vast majority of doctors. They do have power, they have political influence, they have money, but they do not represent physicians.
“So yes, I think that the mood of physicians has changed. More physicians support a national health program. There was a study that was – it’s kind of old now – it was published in 2009, but even then they found that over 50% of physicians supported a national health program. And I think that the support is much greater now. …
“… since then we have seen a lot more participation of physicians in unions, more militancy among physicians who have lost the ability to practice medicine …. And I think that physicians are dissatisfied with just making money for a health system. That’s not what they went into medicine to do.
“ … Can you imagine if healthcare workers stood up together to withhold their labor and to say “Enough, what we need right now is a national healthcare system, free from profit, publicly financed without any profit, any margins, all not-for-profit.” What would happen? Things would stop. People would pay attention …” – Ana Malinow, MD
So how does the fight for Medicare for All connect with other justice movements like labor rights, racial justice, reproductive justice, or even climate justice?
“Well, great question … because there is a direct line from healthcare justice to every other social justice movement, not only in this country, but actually internationally. If we had healthcare as a human right, which I believe we should have, unions would be able to bargain on work conditions, not about healthcare benefits. So that’s how labor would benefit if healthcare were free at the point of care.
“Everyone of every race, of every ethnicity would have access to healthcare equitably. A national health program would include all necessary medical services, including comprehensive reproductive care, abortion, contraception, and assistive reproductive technology.
“And finally, to bring in climate, climate is about health and wellbeing for the population. Global warming creates disasters, displacement, and disease. And as we fight for healthcare as a human right, we also fight for climate justice for all.” – Ana Malinow, MD
Helpful Links
Physicians for a National Health Program
Two-thirds of Americans support Medicare-for-all, Physicians for a National Health Program
Why the US doesn’t have national health insurance: The political role of the AMA, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Vox EU
Kaiser NorCal Doctors Unionize with Overwhelming 99% NLRB Election, Committee of Interns & Residents, SEIU
Doctors have their own diagnosis: ‘Moral distress’ from an inhumane health system, Public Health Watch on NPR
Episode Transcript
Read the full episode transcript.
Biography: Dr. Ana Malinow
Dr. Ana Malinow spent three decades working as a pediatrician with immigrant, refugee and underserved children in Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, and California before retiring as Clinical Professor of Pediatrics from the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.
She is past president of Physicians for a National Health Program and has been featured on national and international media on health care reform and the stealth privatization of Medicare.
She is currently a lead organizer for The Movement to End Privatization of Medicare and on the steering committee of National Single Payer.
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