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.

https://www.youtube.com/live/P3oCTtMGVrM?si=jeMH6dTAekYJTJ3Y

Stop Medicaid Profiteers!

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.

BONUS DOPAMINE: Bernie in Texas

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!

https://youtube.com/shorts/ieOv5SvxQtc?si=AJYj2vxmqRr6veHb

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