IN THIS EPISODE

 

How is the truth about single-payer/Medicare for All twisted by the corporate media and right-wing billionaires? What must Americans do to take back their health care? Join host Brenda Gazzar and America’s No. 1 progressive talk radio show host and New York Times bestselling author, Thom Hartmann, discuss the implications of his book, “The Hidden History of American Health Care: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich.”   

 

 

SHOW NOTES

 

WE DISCUSS

 

Why isn’t there more mainstream media coverage on the real impact our for-profit healthcare system has on people?

 

“…as long as there are all these think tanks being funded by right-wing billionaires that are cranking out policy papers and whatnot — this is in addition to the PR efforts of the health insurance industry — you’re probably not going to hear an honest story out of the media.” – Thom Hartmann

 

 

What’s the most important thing Americans can do today to take back their health care?

 

“Become politically active…This is a situation that we cannot individually solve. It’s the reason why health care should be considered part of the commons. The commons is the stuff that government should have some province over.” – Thom Hartmann

Which is most likely – winning single payer at the national level, or the state level? 

 

“…trying to do it at a national level, you are confronting a trillion-dollar industry which the Supreme Court has said…can pour unlimited amounts of money into the political system. That’s going to be a real challenge. Doing it on a state-by-state basis, it’s a whole lot harder to just take a whole pile of money from the healthcare industry and say no to people, you know, at a state than it is at the federal level.” – Thom Hartmann

 

 

 

Helpful Links

 

Survey of Low-Income Californians showing wide support for Single Payer

Healthy California for All Commission (2021)

Veteran trust in VA health care rises above 90 percent for the first time

U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs (Press Release)

 

Values-Based Foundation for a U.S. Single Payer Health System Model

School of Health Professions, School of Nursing, Hofstra University

 

Vermont’s single-payer failure could hold lessons on Medicare for All

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

 

 

Episode Transcript

 

Read the full episode transcript.

 

 

Guest Biography

 

Thom Hartmann is a progressive national and internationally syndicated talk show host whose shows are available in over a half-billion homes worldwide. He’s the New York Times bestselling, four-time Project Censored Award-winning author of about 30 books in print in 17 languages on five continents. Leonardo DiCaprio was inspired by Thom’s book “The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight” to make the movie “The 11th Hour“ (in which Thom appears), and the movie “Ice On Fire.”

Talkers Magazine named Thom Hartmann as the 10th most important talk show host in America in 2019 and has been in the top ten for over a decade and he is the #1 most important progressive host, in their “Heavy Hundred” ranking.

His radio show is syndicated on for-profit FM and AM radio stations nationally, on nonprofit and community stations nationwide by Pacifica, across the entire North American continent on SiriusXM Satellite radio (Progress, Channel 127), on cable systems nationwide by Cable Radio Network (CRN), via subscription audio podcasts, worldwide through the U.S. Armed Forces Network, and through the Thom Hartmann iOS and Android apps. The radio show is also simulcast as TV in real-time into nearly 40 million U.S. and Canadian homes by the Free Speech TV Network on Dish Network, DirectTV, on cable TV systems nationwide, and live on both YouTube and Facebook.

 

 

 

Get Involved / Take Action

 

Subscribe to HEAL California for health policy news with a California focus

 

Join Healthy California Now  – a coalition working toward a California single-payer system. Individual and organizational memberships available.

 

Join Health Care for All California to keep up with local actions to support California single-payer health care.

 

Join Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) to support a national campaign to improve and expand Improved Medicare to all U.S. residents.

 

 

Find more Code WACK! episodes on ProgressiveVoices.com, on the PV App and on NurseTalk Media. You can also subscribe to Code WACK! wherever you find your podcasts. This podcast is powered by HEAL California, uplifting the voices of those fighting for health care reform around the country. I’m Brenda Gazzar.

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