This episode, we’re live at the Texas Democratic Party Convention, where Gillian is battling heat stroke while talking with folks about why we need Medicare for All and how we’re using grassroots organizing to build the power to win it!

In the past, Medicare for All might have been a tough sell in Texas, but things are very different these days, as the Lone Star state turns from red to a distinctly bluish purple and Texas voters grow sick and tired of having some of the worst healthcare in the country. And yes, it is just that bad — Texas has the highest rate of uninsured people in the nation, as well as the highest rate of people who go without healthcare because of cost. The only upside is that this situation has given rise to a wave of energy to take on our healthcare system and make real change. Tables will be flipped!

In addition to updates from the Texas State Democratic convention, Gillian talks with Austin-based table-flipper and organizer Aija Nemer-Aanerud about the Big Insurance scam to exploit Medicaid for profit, how people across the country are fighting back, and what Texas has to teach us about the importance of defending public healthcare.

Aija Nemer-Aanerud might have been a guitar instructor at some point, and is definitely the Healthcare for All Campaign Director for People’s Action, where they’re organizing with groups across the country to get insurance companies out of our Medicaid system! If you think the tax dollars we pay into Medicaid should be paying for actual healthcare — not an extra yacht for an insurance company CEO — you can find out more about their work here.

Our friends at Physicians for a National Health Program have gotten together all the nitty gritty details of exactly how the Medicaid privatization scheme works, how much taxpayer money Big Insurance is sucking out of the system while denying care, and how the state you live in could easily eliminate a whole lot of waste, fraud, and abuse just by taking them out of the Medicaid business. We’re talking billions of dollars that could be saving the lives of the people we love. Read their “Removing the Middle-Man from Medicaid report here!

If it sounds too good to be true, Connecticut has the receipts — they’ve saved over 4 billion dollars since they gave private insurance companies the boot from their Medicaid system. We did a deep dive into that story in our Medicaid Privatization Smackdown episode, where we interviewed Sheldon Toubman, one of the architects of the campaign that made it happen.

Next time someone tells you that Medicare for All is “too radical” for folks in the red states, remember how the crowd reacted when Bernie Sanders called for Medicare for All in a room of 3,000 Texas democrats at the state convention!

Don’t forget to like this episode and subscribe to The Medicare for All Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform!

This show is a project of the Healthcare-NOW Education Fund! Chip in here to support our work!

As we record this, the New York Knicks just might be poised to make history and win their first NBA championship since 1973 (Go Knicks!), but we’re here today to talk about a potential win that could be even bigger for New York than the Knicks taking it all… the passage of The New York Health Act! The New York Health Act, currently working its way through the NY state legislature, would guarantee high-quality, comprehensive healthcare to every single New Yorker, and – it turns out – save families, counties, cities, schools, and taxpayers billions of dollars! We’ve got two of the leaders of the Campaign for New York Health to bring us up to speed on the bill and tell us more about how they’re working to make universal healthcare a reality in the Empire State!

Our guests for this episode are Campaign for New York Health Executive Director Melanie D’Arrigo and Managing Director for Results for Development Dr. Cheryl Cashin. You can read the NY Health=NY Wealth report that details how passing the New York Health Act would guarantee healthcare for every New Yorker AND save billions of dollars for individuals, families, and entire counties, cities, and towns on their website.

Those new Medicaid work requirements are about to cause millions of Americans to lose their healthcare. This is a policy that was disastrous for Medicare in the 1990s and disastrous in all the states where it’s been tried for Medicaid so far. You have until July 30, 2026 to submit a public comment and let Chuck Grassley know how you feel about his ghoulish enthusiasm for making the lives of poor people shorter and more difficult.

Don’t forget to like this episode and subscribe to The Medicare for All Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform!

This show is a project of the Healthcare-NOW Education Fund! Chip in here to support our work!

The fight for our health is heating up this summer! Across the country, folks are getting ready for a summer of action to demand real justice in our healthcare system. At Healthcare NOW, we’re calling it No Surrender Summer, and it’s all kicking off with Seven Days in June, a national week of action against healthcare cuts. Seven Days In June was conceived by iconic activist Cleve Jones. Cleve is the man who started the AIDS Memorial Quilt, which began with one square in 1985, became a key tool in educating the public about the AIDS epidemic, and is now the largest public folk art project in history. He’s an expert on public health organizing, he’s a legend, and he’s here to talk with us today about how we bring attention to the fight for human dignity this summer and beyond!

You can find more information about Seven Days In June and find an action near you at www.sevendaysinjune.org.

Find more actions you can take to defend healthcare all summer long at www.healthcare-now.org/no-surrender-summer.

Don’t forget to like this episode and subscribe to The Medicare for All Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform!

This show is a project of the Healthcare-NOW Education Fund! Chip in here to support our work!

We usually stick to the healthcare news here, but this time, we’re covering a story happening right in our own backyard that could have huge public health consequences. Corpus Christi, Texas is about to be the first American city to run out of water, which threatens the health and wellbeing of the entire city, and especially the folks who are already in precarious health situations. Today we’re talking to local activist Isabel Araiza about what’s happening in Corpus, why we let big businesses put a price tag on our public goods, and why this isn’t just a Texas problem. PLUS, the latest healthcare news!

Isabel Araiza was born and raised in Corpus Christi. She earned her PhD in Sociology from Boston College and returned to Corpus to teach. She’s currently an Associate Professor of Social Sciences at Del Mar Community College.

For the Greater Good Coastal Bend, the grassroots group Isabel co-founded has been advocating for quality of life issues in the Coastal Bend since 2016. You can find out more about their work here.

For a Perfect Union has produced an excellent video about the Corpus Christi water crisis featuring Isabel and other local activists. Please watch and share to help spread the word!

Don’t forget to like this episode and subscribe to The Medicare for All Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform!

This show is a project of the Healthcare-NOW Education Fund! Chip in here to support our work!

Content Warning: This episode is somehow even swearier than usual.

War is hell. Mostly because it kills people indiscriminately and disrupts the lives of huge groups of people, but also because it costs so much money that could be spent on saving lives. Now, after a year of hearing that our country is so hard up for money that we need to make massive cuts to Medicaid and other public health programs, we’re at war in the middle east AGAIN, racking up unnecessary deaths and a massive tab. Linda Bilmes at the Kennedy School said that the cost of the war would definitely reach a trillion dollars, even if it ended tomorrow – and she said that a couple weeks ago. In this episode, we’ve got Alex Lawson and Eagan Kemp here to talk about why the US is spending money on missiles but can’t afford Medicare for All.

PLUS, here at the pod, we’re trying out a new format to be able to bring you more up-to-date updates about what’s happening in healthcare politics in this country and the movement to change healthcare politics in this country for good! There’s so much going on right now in America’s war on our health, and between the insurance companies and congress and the MAHA crowd, it’s so hard to keep up. We, as always, want to help out with the unpleasant work of sorting through the noise and amplifying the really important stuff, so from now on, we’ll be starting out each episode with a healthcare news roundup of some of the top stories you need to know. Of course, accurate but irreverent commentary and analysis will be provided!

Let us know what you think!

Alex Lawson is the Executive Director of Social Security Works, the convening member of the Strengthen Social Security Coalition— a coalition made up of over 340 national and state organizations representing over 50 million Americans. 

Eagan Kemp is an expert in health care policy, including single-payer systems, private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Veterans Health Administration, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, social determinants of health, mental health and drug shortages. He has served as senior policy analyst at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (Does that still exist?), but right now he’s the Health Policy Advocate for Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division.

Thanks to political science professor Dr. Misty Parker for joining us for the news!

Don’t forget to like this episode and subscribe to The Medicare for All Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform! This show is a project of the Healthcare NOW Education Fund!

This show is a project of the Healthcare-NOW Education Fund! Chip in here to support our work!

It’s primary season, y’all! Today I’m joined by Abdul El Sayed — doctor, public health expert, and candidate for the Democratic party nomination in Michigan to talk about healthcare in this election and on the campaign trail!

To read more about Abdul and the race for US Senate in Michigan, you can check out his campaign page. You can find more information about his book, Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide here on Goodreads!

Don’t forget to like this episode and subscribe to The Medicare for All Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform! This show is a project of the Healthcare NOW Education Fund!

This show is a project of the Healthcare-NOW Education Fund! Chip in here to support our work!

Friends, I’ve got a question for you: how are you doing these days, mental-health-wise? Sometimes on the Medicare for All podcast we can get so busy edutaining about healthcare inequity that we forget to take a pause to check in and make sure we’re all OK. What’s that you say? You too are feeling a little… unwell these days? Us too! It’s an objectively terrible moment in history, we’re entering life under fascism, and all the cool people and things we care about are getting disappeared or DOGEd. When we win Medicare for All, we’re all going to be able to get the mental health support we need, but in the meantime, for this special fan service episode, we’ve gotten us all some help. Our guest today is a licensed counsellor who has agreed to give us all some advice on how to keep fighting the man AND avoid crashing out in 2026!

Tristyn Ariyan is a Licensed Professional Counselor based in San Antonio, TX. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Criminal Justice from the University of Massachusetts, followed by a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health from Bradley University. Tristyn is a National Board Certified Counselor, Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, and an active member of both the American Counseling Association and the Texas Counseling Association. Tristyn founded her private practice, Luna Therapy Solutions, LLC, in early 2022.

She also knows more than you might think about Insane Clown Posse.

Don’t forget to like this episode and subscribe to The Medicare for All Podcast on your favorite podcast platform! This show is a project of the Healthcare NOW Education Fund!

If you want to support our work, you can donate here!

Friends, I’ve got a question for you: how are you doing these days, mental-health-wise? Sometimes on the Medicare for All podcast we can get so busy edutaining about healthcare inequity that we forget to take a pause to check in and make sure we’re all OK. What’s that you say? You too are feeling a little… unwell these days? Us too! It’s an objectively terrible moment in history, we’re entering life under fascism, and all the cool people and things we care about are getting disappeared or DOGEd. When we win Medicare for All, we’re all going to be able to get the mental health support we need, but in the meantime, for this special fan service episode, we’ve gotten us all some help. Our guest today is a licensed counsellor who has agreed to give us all some advice on how to keep fighting the man AND avoid crashing out in 2026!

Tristyn Ariyan is a Licensed Professional Counselor based in San Antonio, TX. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Criminal Justice from the University of Massachusetts, followed by a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health from Bradley University. Tristyn is a National Board Certified Counselor, Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, and an active member of both the American Counseling Association and the Texas Counseling Association. Tristyn founded her private practice, Luna Therapy Solutions, LLC, in early 2022.

She also knows more than you might think about Insane Clown Posse.

Don’t forget to like this episode and subscribe to The Medicare for All Podcast on your favorite podcast platform! This show is a project of the Healthcare NOW Education Fund!

If you want to support our work, you can donate here!

At Healthcare NOW, we’re used to getting push-back from folks who don’t believe in Medicare for All, and we always expect to hear from those folks – but this episode is about something different. When we announced our annual national  Medicare for All Strategy Conference is happening this November, we got some push-back – not about our fight for healthcare justice, but about our choice of venue. Some of our supporters were upset that we’re going to be gathering in a Red State – ok, arguably the king of the Red States: Florida. We’ve gotten emails from folks who won’t attend on principle because they refuse to go to (and this is a quote) the “Evil DeSantis State.” So today we’re joined by one of the leaders of Medicare for All Florida to dig into what’s happening in Florida, why we’re heading to the Sunshine State for our conference, and – most importantly – how you can join us this November 22&23rd to bring the fight to Red America.

Consider this your official invite to our National Medicare for All Strategy Conference:

Find out more and register here!

Want to learn more about how Medicare for All activists are fighting to move forward toward healthcare justice amid constant assaults on public healthcare from their state government? Check out the Medicare for All Florida website!

Don’t forget to like this episode and subscribe to The Medicare for All Podcast on your favorite podcast platform! This show is a project of the Healthcare NOW Education Fund!

If you want to support our work, you can donate here!

Anyone who’s been on the internet and wants to preserve their sanity knows one, eternal truth: Don’t read the comments section. The comments, as we all know, are where our better angels go to die – where we forget our humanity and type out the ugliest, scariest stuff we were apparently thinking all along? Well, today, against our better judgement, we are going to disregard best practice and dig in to what people are saying in the comments about healthcare. Because how are we ever going to win over the people if we don’t know what the people have to say? We tasked our researcher, Ashley Schultz — the most chronically online of our followers, with digging through the dregs of the internet, and she’s here to talk about what she found.

Don’t forget to like this episode and subscribe to The Medicare for All Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform! This show is a project of the Healthcare NOW Education Fund!

This show is a project of the Healthcare-NOW Education Fund! If you want to support our work, you can donate at our website, healthcare-now.org.