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 his extraordinary fight to live.

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 healthcare system and what we need to do to fix it. 

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, structural and personal racism -- and how little has changed since the 1970s. 

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 wake-up call for workers in a service industry that in too many cases, ignored and forgot them during the pandemic.

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 - remains unaffordable for many Americans in low-income jobs, while public health insurance saves lives. 

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 All in California - the popularity of HMO giant Kaiser Permanente. 

What's long COVID like, after a year? How much does it cost to treat? Are some Americans still having to "stay married for the health insurance" - in 2021? What's one way Medicaid fails special needs kids? Listen as Mariana Pineda, a New York teacher, mother of four and single-payer activist pulls back the curtain on the campaign for the New York Health Act. Why, on the heels of a devastating pandemic, did the Democratic-controlled New York Legislature take a pass on Medicare for All?

As if having Long COVID weren’t enough, does America’s broken healthcare system make things worse? Does the social safety net - meaning Medicaid, unemployment and disability insurance -  actually save us? Join Mariana Pineda, a New York teacher and mother of four, as she shares her COVID long-haul nightmare with host Brenda Gazzar. It was hard enough just trying to stay alive and keep her health insurance in force. Why was getting treatments approved by her insurance like a full-time job?

What if your surgery were suddenly cancelled the day before because your insurer deemed it "medically unnecessary?" What choices do Americans have when it comes to their care? Would global budgeting have helped rural hospitals cope with the pandemic? Stephanie Kang, PhD, health policy director for Rep. Pramila Jayapal, shares with Brenda Gazzar how her father's personal experience with a marketplace health plan during a serious health crisis illustrates the need for improved, expanded Medicare for All.

What’s the point of pushing for Medicare for All when President Biden opposes it? What about racial equity in healthcare - is winning single payer enough? Is there any value in supporting incremental legislation expanding Medicare to some?   Host Brenda Gazzar and guest, Dr. Stephanie Kang, PhD, health policy director for Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal discuss legislative strategies worth pursuing now if we hope to win a better healthcare future for America.