Nurse Talk

This time on Code WACK!

Why is long term care, including in-home health care, in crisis? How are skyrocketing costs affecting patients? How come two-thirds of people in California who are getting in-home health care get it from family members who are often unpaid? Would universal long term care - or a single-payer system with unified financing - help?

To find out, we spoke to Jodi Reid, executive director of California Alliance for Retired Americans, California’s largest grassroots senior advocacy organization. She has more than four decades of organizing experience on issues ranging from health care to housing. Jodi represents her organization on the board of Healthy California Now, a single-payer advocacy coalition. This is the first of a two-part series with Jodi about long-term care.

This time on Code WACK!

How do insurance companies put up barriers to addiction treatments? How does this affect treatment programs and their clients? And how would it be if we had Medicare for All?

To find out, we spoke to Arlene Stanich-Prince, executive director of Ohlhoff Recovery Programs in San Francisco, one of the longest standing treatment programs in the area. This is the second of two episodes with Stanich-Prince.

This time on Code WACK!

What are some of the most common misconceptions about people who are addicted to substances like opioids? What medicines are revolutionizing the way people are being treated today – and how accessible are they?

To find out, we spoke to Arlene Stanich-Prince, executive director of Ohlhoff Recovery Programs in San Francisco, one of the longest standing treatment programs in the area. This is the first of two episodes with Stanich-Prince.

Check out the Show Notes and Transcript for more!

What is the true cost of the American health insurance system? What toll is it taking on both patients and providers? And what do we need instead?

To find out, we recently interviewed Dr. Linda Peeno, a physician, ethicist and health insurance industry whistleblower who testified before Congress and who has spent nearly four decades working to protect patients from harm and death by corporate healthcare systems.

Dr. Peeno was played by actor Laura Dern in the 2002 docudrama “Damaged Care,” and she was also featured in Michael Moore’s 2007 documentary “Sicko.”

How did a single mom in Kentucky, in the 1970s, become a physician, then a health insurance medical reviewer and eventually a whistleblower?

To find out, we recently interviewed Dr. Linda Peeno, a physician and ethicist who has spent nearly four decades working to protect patients from harm and death by corporate healthcare systems.

Dr. Peeno was played by actor Laura Dern in the 2002 docudrama “Damaged Care,” and she was also featured in Michael Moore’s 2007 documentary “Sicko.” She has assisted in more than 150 legal cases to expose for-profit systems that have corrupted medicine and health care.

In honor of PRIDE Month, we’re revisiting a popular episode about the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s. What were the health policy failures that spurred so many Americans to militant activism? How did the LGBTQ+ community win the struggle to get government funding to address the deadly virus?

Fortunately, today, with appropriate medical intervention, more and more people are living, instead of dying, with HIV/AIDS. But the U.S. still trails many developed countries in life expectancy, a result of health policy failures that continue to cause unnecessary death and suffering.

What can today's Medicare-for-All movement learn from AIDS activists?

To find out, we spoke with Michael Lighty, President of the Healthy California Now Coalition and former constituency director for Bernie 2020.

This time on Code WACK!

At least seven states are grappling with budget shortfalls in 2024. What goes on behind the scenes when a state needs to cut costs? Who stands to lose the most as programs are trimmed or eliminated? Today we're looking at California’s multi-billion dollar budget deficit – and what's being done to protect the state’s most vulnerable residents.

To find out, we spoke to Jodi Reid, executive director of California Alliance for Retired Americans, California’s largest grassroots senior advocacy organization. She has more than four decades of organizing experience on issues ranging from health care to housing. Jodi represents her organization on the board of Healthy California Now, a single-payer advocacy coalition.

This time on Code WACK!

How do Managed Care health insurance plans hurt patients? Why is it legal for commercial health insurers to use Denial-of-Care as a business model? And what is one organization doing to call attention to such issues?

To find out, we spoke to Kimberly J. Soenen, founder of “SOME PEOPLE,” a Chicago-based not-for-profit organization and multiverse channel dedicated to removing barriers to healthcare access. Soenen is also the COO of AMPERS Radio Association in Minnesota, but the views she expressed in this podcast are solely her own. This is the second episode in a two-part series with Kimberly Soenen.

This time on Code WACK!

What’s the impact of health insurance denial-of-care tactics? Who “wins” when new employees have to wait three months before their health insurance kicks in? What devastating physical, financial and emotional consequences did one young woman face after she was seriously injured during such a waiting period?

To find out, we spoke to Kimberly Soenen, the Minnesota-based founder of “Some People,” a not-for-profit organization and multiverse channel that examines the people, processes and systems that constitute the maintenance of and barriers to health. This is the first episode in a two-part series with Kimberly.

Soenen is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of AMPERS Radio Association. All views expressed during this podcast are her own.

This time on Code WACK!

Why do lawmakers continue to ignore the toll our broken healthcare system takes on us? And what can we do, ourselves, to bring about change? What inspired single-payer advocate and mother Rebecca Wood to put much of her activism on hold to “sharpen her swords”?

To find out, we interviewed Rebecca, a first-year law student and public interest fellow at the University of Massachusetts. She’s a 2024 Rappaport Fellow in Law and Public Policy and the president of the University of Massachusetts Law National Lawyers Guild chapter. This is the second episode in a two-part series with Rebecca.