Building Bridges Radio: Your Community & Labor Report

Produced and Hosted by Mimi Rosenberg & Ken Nash over WBAI,99.5FM in the NYC Metro Area

WHO WE ARE

WORKERS OF THE WORLD TUNE IN! Introducing "Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report"

Our beat is the labor front, broadly defined, both geographically and conceptually. We examine the world of work and workers on the job as well as where they live. We examine the issues that affect their everyday lives, with a particular sensitivity towards human rights abuses, environmental concerns and the U.S. drive for global domination. We record their global struggles and provide analysis of their efforts to empower themselves and transform society to provide greater democratic, human, social, political and economic rights. Each program consists of feature stories, generally interviews, within a historical context, often accompanied by sound from demonstrations, rallies or conferences, and complemented and enhanced by poetry and instrumental or vocal -- people's culture.

Over the years Building Bridges has produced a weekly one hour program, Mondays from 7-8 PM EST, covering local, national and international labor and community issues over radio WBAI-Pacifica 99.5 FM in New York. We also produce half hour version, Building Bridges National, which is distribtued to over 40 broadcast and internet radio stations.


For more information you can contact us at knash@igc.org
In Struggle Mimi Rosenberg & Ken Nash

Showing posts with label medicare for all. Show all posts
Showing posts with label medicare for all. Show all posts

All about 'Medicare for All' and Can it Provide Universal Access to Health Care! - 28:45  

All about ‘Medicare for All’ and Can it Provide Universal Access to Health Care!
with
Donald E. Moore, MD, is a primary care physician and is on the Board of Directors of the NY Metro Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Care Plan
and
Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, RN, President of the NYS Nurses Association
and
Steffie Woolhandler, MD, is a primary care physician, professor of public health and health policy at Hunter College, and clinical professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Secretary of the Physicians for a National Health Care Plan
 

Today, more than 30 million Americans still don’t have health insurance and even more are underinsured. Even for those with insurance, costs are so high that medical bills are the number one cause of bankruptcy in the United States. Incredibly, we spend significantly far more of our national GDP on this inadequate health care system per person than any other major country. And despite doing so, Americans have worse health outcomes and a higher infant mortality rate than countries that spend much less on health care.

Because “Medicare for All” or what has also been referred to as single-payer system is so much in the news, we’re bringing you a live explainer with our experts.

They’ll discuss the current Medicare program.  And what about coverage for long-term care expenses and  coverage of hearing, dental, vision or foot care?  And what’s wrong with expanding ObamaCare – wouldn’t that be easier than passing Medicare-for-All? 
.
We’ll clear up the often-confusing Medicare for All debate, including its history, prospects and terminology.  Medicare for All is a rallying cry for progressives, but even when the Democratic presidential candidates claim to support it there are shades of difference such as the role of Medicare Advantage programs, and the nuances matter – our experts will help unravel the differences.

Some use the term Medicare for All to mean a much less drastic change to the U.S. health care system, such as a “public option” that would offer specific groups of people — perhaps those over age 50 or consumers purchasing coverage on the insurance marketplaces — the opportunity to buy into Medicare coverage

What about the plan offered by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), in which the government would be in charge of paying for all health care — although doctors, hospitals and other health care providers would remain private. And what would happen to union negotiated health care plans?


So, is eliminating private insurance with a move to Medicare for All the answer?  How can be build a Medicare for All Plan? Is a Medicare for All Plan the solution for universal health care?  

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Rally Against Republican Health Plans and Fight Like Hell for Medicare for All! - 28:53  

Rally Against Republican Health Care Plans that go Straight for the Jugular and Would Leave Us Hemorrhaging and Fight Like Hell for Medicare for All!


Whether the Republicans pass a version of TrumpCare, or work to sabotage Obamacare one thing is perfectly clear that health care should be a universal right, whether called single-payer or Medicare for all, and that until we implement such a system our lives are in jeopardy.

So, Building Bridges is broadcasting an Emergency Health Care Rally” THIS IS NOT A DRILL which was held in NYC recently sponsored by Metro NY Health Care for All and Local 1199. Tune into the rally and listen to health care professionals and we the people  as we mobilize for all of us to call on our Senators and Representatives to oppose bills in Congress that would gut the Affordable Care Act, decimate Medicaid, place Medicare’s finances in jeopardy, end family planning funding, and weaken or eliminate important consumer protections in health insurance.  Taken as a whole, these bills will blow-up our insurance markets, threaten the viability of many of our hospitals and community health centers, and leave many millions uninsured.

WE CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN!

Listen as we mobilize for “Medicare for All,” a system in which a single public or quasi-public agency organizes health care financing, but the delivery of care remains largely in private hands. Under a single-payer system, all residents of the U.S. would be covered for all medically necessary services, including doctor, hospital, preventive, long-term care, mental health, dental, reproductive health care, vision, prescription drug and medical supply costs. 
The program would be funded by the savings obtained from replacing today’s inefficient, profit-oriented, multiple insurance payers with a single streamlined, nonprofit, public payer, and by modest new taxes based on ability to pay. Premiums would disappear; 95 % of all households would save money. Patients would no longer face financial barriers to care such as co-pays and
deductibles, and would regain free choice of doctor and hospital. Doctors would regain autonomy over patient care.

Attend our virtual rally and together we’ll fight for the Medicare for All Act, H.R. 676, which would establish an American single-payer health insurance system.


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Republican Health Bill - A Toxic Brew: A Comprehensive Analysis - 26:40  

Republican Health Bill Stirs Up Toxic Brew: A Comprehensive Analysis  
with 

U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (NY13 Congressional District)
and

Dr. David Himmelstein, MD, FACP, distinguished professor of public health and health policy in the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College and adjunct clinical professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine,  He is a co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program a leading single payer advocacy organization,

from Macbeth
A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder.
1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd.
3 WITCH. Harpier cries:—'tis time! 'tis time!
1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.— Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one; Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot! ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble. 2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake; Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,— For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble. 3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy; maw and gulf Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips; Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,— Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron, For the ingrediants of our caldron.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon's blood, Then the charm is firm and good. 


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:Trumpcare Defeated - Obamacare or Medicare for All - 26:35  

Insurance coverage losses under the proposed American Health
Care Act replacement were a matter of life and death and how the defeat of Trumpcare can open the door to HEALTH CARE FOR ALL!
with
.  Deborah Burger, Co-President, National Nurses United and RN
.  Dr. Donald E. Moore, Physicians for a National Health Program, N.Y. Metro Chapter, and MD, MPH



As the Republicans pushed forward their abysmal replacement, the
American Heath Care  Act, much of the talk surrounding its impact
focused on insurance numbers and premium hikes. Those things are
certainly important.But this is more important: The Republican plan
would have caused unnecessary suffering and preventable death.
We’ll discuss how we know this, and how our great victory in
defeating Trumpcare opens the opportunity for the American public
to seize the time for HEALTHCARE FOR ALL, with a Single Payer System/Medicare for All!


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NYS Medicare for All, A Better Prescription for a Health Care Solution -27:47  

Medicare for All, A Better Prescription for a Health Care Solution
with

Richard Gottfried, Chair NYS Assembly Health Committee

Bernie Sanders is at the forefront over a national debate on improving our health care system, with his proposal for a “single payer” structure shorthand for “Medicare for All”. Meanwhile, in NYS, Assemblyman Richard Gottfried‘s single payer legislation has  passed the Assembly, with wide support from organized labor as well as multiple community advocacy and healthcare professional organizations.  While discontent arises under Obamacare, as insurance companies increase our out-of-pocket expenses the Gottfried plan would provide a comprehensive universal insurance program for all NYers, without deductibles, co-pays and would eliminate restrictive provider networks. Gottfried’s plan would begin a march to “Medicare for All” nationwide, the same state by state way the Canadians began their successful single payer system.  “Health care reform has done a lot of good, but it still leaves us in the hands of insurance companies.  Single Payer would save the billions of dollars that we now spend on insurance company administrative costs…You and your doctor would work to keep you healthy. New York Health would pay the bill with funding
from broad-based revenue based on ability to pay”. 

Plus Lily Tomlin Comedian/actress Lily Tomlin appeared as her character 
Ernestine to lambaste the insurance companies at a California rally in support of a Medicare for all single payer system

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Single-Pay​er Heathcare in NYS and the USA - 27:21  

Could This Be the Year in NYS for a Single-Payer 
Health Care System?
with
Assemblyman Richard Gottfried,Chair NYS Assembly Health 
Committee
and
Dr. Mary O'Brien, Board Member,Physicians for a National 
Health Program, primary care physician at Columbia University who also participates in the medical economics section of the clinical practice course for 4th-year medical students.

Assemblyman Richard Gottfried,  is rolling out his bill establishing a statewide single-payer health care system, a structure often shorthanded by advocates nationwide as “Medicare for All.”  Even though the nation is only beginning to implement the federal Affordable Health Care Act, Gottfried said the Empire State shouldn’t have to wait years before seeing where it falls short. “Federal health care reform has done a lot of good, but it still leaves us in the hands of insurance companies.,” “It would save the billions of dollars that we now spend on insurance company administrative costs. … You and your doctor would work to keep you healthy. New York Health would pay the bill with funding from broad-based revenue based on ability to pay,” Gottfried said and “New York can do better.”

Plus
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Jim McDermott discuss the state by state approach to enacting Medicare for all single payer health insurance plan as pioneered by Vermont which could become the model for the nation.

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Recession & Prison Labor; Medicare is the Answer, Not the Problem 27:17  

Corporations Say, Why Bargain With Free Labor When There’s A Captive Labor At Our Disposal?
with
Rania Khalek, independent journalist, AlterNet

Prison labor is every Corporation's dream - cheap labor, no sick leave, no
time off, no holidays and employees that can be easily replaced. Of course,
for human rights activists however, it's a nightmare, because the other side
of the coin is forced labor, no unions, low or no pay and no protections
whatsoever for the workers. Corporations have used or currently uses
prison labor for anything from holiday coffee for Starbucks to cutting
airplane components for Boeing, making Game Boys for Nintendo,
producing equipment for the war in Iraq, shrink wrapping mouse devices
for Microsoft, making dentures, down to sewing lingerie for Victoria
Secrets. The use of slave labor and now the use of prison labor is
a multi-billion dollar business.
********************
Medicare Is the Answer, Not the Problem
with
MARGARET FLOWERS, M.D., Congressional Fellow for the
18,000-member Physicians for a National Health Program.
Sara Somers, Senior Attorney, National Health Law Program

Both Democrats and Republicans are missing the point by putting the
emphasis on controlling Medicare and Medicaid costs without effectively
addressing the reasons for our rising health care costs. Rather than
embracing the Republican rhetoric which blames our public insurances,
Democrats would do well to call out the real reason for our health care
spending crisis: our current fragmented and profit-driven model, and
advocate for a national improved Medicare for all. Watching the actions
in D.C. is like watching the same political theater we have seen for each
issue. The crisis, manufactured, or real, becomes an excuse to pretend
to fight over the solutions, all the while continuing to move towards greater
austerity measures for necessities such as health care, housing, education,
jobs and pensions. We must address the root causes of the direction
this country is headed, corporatism and militarism, through unity and mass
acts of resistance. We will not email or elect ourselves out of this situation.

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Jobs for All; plus Real Healthcare Reform? - 28'  

Health Care Reform or Insurance Industry Rip-Off?
withKatie Robbins, Asst National Coordinator, Healthcare-Now
and
Don McCanne, M.D., Senior Health Policy Fellow , Physicians
for a National Health Program

Tax the Rich to Create Jobs for All

with
Bill Barclay, Chicago Political Economy Group

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Health Care Reform or Insurance Industry Rip-Off?
with
Katie Robbins, Asst National Coordinator, Healthcare-Now
and
Don McCanne, M.D., Senior Health Policy Fellow , Physicians
for a National Health Program


Democrats said the sweeping overhaul of the US health care
system passed by the US House of Representatives would extend
coverage to 36 million people now without insurance while creating
a government health insurance program. They say it will end insurance
company practices like not covering pre-existing conditions or
dropping people when they become ill. But, what sort of coverage will
the now to be heavily subsidized insurance industry provide especially
without a robust public option? Will they truly end up extend coverage
to all those eligible? And, as the debate now moves to the Senate,
what becomes of the single-payer option which would cover everyone
and cost less?
*************************
Tax the Rich to Create Jobs for All
with
Bill Barclay, Chicago Political Economy Group

With the official national unemployment rate exceeding 10 percent and
the real rate way above that, we present Bill Barclay from the Chicago
Political Economy Group who presented one of the many proposals for
full employment offered at the National Jobs for all Coalition Conference
held in New York City Nov 13-14 .This jobs program would be paid for
by a redistribution of wealth including a national stock transfer tax and
increased inheritance taxes on the wealthy - the Paris Hilton Tax.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++


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Africa Labor Report plus Senator Sanders on Health Care Reform - 27:06  

Africa: Its Labor News & Views In Focus
produced by
Radio Workers World Productions, Cape Town, South Africa

Billionaires For Wealthcare
presents
Battle Hymn of the Insurance Companies

Senator Bernie Sanders Unfiltered: Health Care Reform
Produced by

Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films

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Africa: Its Labor News & Views In Focus
produced by
Radio Workers World Productions, Cape Town, South Africa

Building Bridges in collaboration with South African based radio Workers
World Productions brings us the issues for and protests of Africa’s laboring
class, amidst the global economic crisis.
**********
Billionaires For Wealthcare
presents
Battle Hymn of the Insurance Companies
**********
Senator Bernie Sanders Unfiltered: Health Care Reform
Produced by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films

One of the reasons that Senator Sanders is a strong proponent of a single-
payer, Medicare-for-all proposal is that it is much less complicated than
other proposals. A single-payer approach saves hundreds of billions of
dollars a year because you don’t end up with thousands of different health
insurance programs appealing to all different kinds of people and costing
a fortune to administer. He's going to continue the fight for legislation that
will allow states to go forward with single-payer if they want to.

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Kucinich on Real Health Care Reform - 27:23  

Real Health Care Reform
With
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Cleveland, Ohio

Representative Kucinich is a champion HR 676 the single payer
bill which constitutes real reform which is not a placebo but the
real curative for what ails our health care system. He dissects the
current health care debate talking about the ever shrinking public
option, the role of the insurance companies, the prospects for a
debate on single payer in Congress, his amendment for choice
of single payer by the States and the continuing struggle for real
health care reform.


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Conyers & Himmelstein on Health Care for All  

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27:13
Produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg
**************************************
Band Aid Approach To Hemorrhaging Health Care System Continues To Prevail
with
U.S. Congressman John Conyers

Do You Want To Get Sick To Your Stomach Then Think About The Cost Of Being Sick In America

with
Dr. David Himmelstein, primary care physician, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program

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Band Aid Approach To Hemorrhaging Health Care System Continues To Prevail
with
U.S. Congressman John Conyers

The economic crisis has increased the urgency for real health
care reform now, yet the President and Congress persist in
advocating half measures, ignoring the real problem, the
health insurance industry. But, the voices for comprehensive,
meaningful reform like Rep. Conyers, whose legislation HR 676,
a single payer or Medicare for all bill continue to be raised.
Rep. Conyers makes the case for health care for all at an event
honoring one of the most vocal proponents of single payer,
Marilyn Clement, National Coordinator of Healthcare-Now!
**********
Do You Want To Get Sick To Your Stomach Then Think About The Cost Of Being Sick In America
with
Dr. David Himmelstein, primary care physician, Associate Professor of Medicine,
Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program

A frightening look at a new Harvard study finds that medical
problems contributed to nearly two-thirds of all bankruptcies.
Surprisingly, most of those bankrupted by medical problems had
health insurance. Covering the uninsured isn’t enough, but
unfortunately, Washington politicians seem all too ready to cave
in to insurance firms. We’ll also examine the highlights of Sen.
Edward Kennedy’s draft health care bill, which some say is the most liberal in Congress, and find out if it is.

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