In celebration of our first 100 Code WACK! episodes, we’re revisiting one of our very first - and most disturbing - podcasts. It’s about how our ‘wack’ healthcare system, with its confusing mess of various insurance plans, treats patients very differently depending on who pays the claims. Tragically, it’s as relevant today as ever! Guests Dr. Ron Birnbaum and Dr. Paul Y. Song reveal to host Brenda Gazzar the problems patients and doctors face due to our multi-payer health insurance scheme, and some potentially life-threatening hassles that are common health insurance industry practices. And Dr. James G. Kahn explains just how much money the average American family is paying each year for our ultra-complicated healthcare system. (It’s a shocker!)

Nurse Talk

New From Code WACK, Cruel and Stupid? How our Healthcare System Affects Doctors and Patients

Ever think about your personal vulnerability in the face of a health challenge? A car accident, the flu, or a cancer diagnosis can have severe consequences, including emotional and economic chaos. Why? Because right when we need to focus on getting well, we find ourselves struggling to navigate a confusing health insurance labyrinth designed around someone else’s profit. Join guest Kayla Westergard-Dobson in this second of a two-part podcast as she and host Brenda Gazzar explore the true cost of America’s corporate healthcare system - a cost which goes far beyond impossibly high premiums and out-of-pocket costs. How would things be different if we had Medicare for All?

New from Code WACK, Stress, Anxiety & the Agonizing Toll of America's Callous Healthcare System

New from Code WACK, A devastating loss, then corporate callousness. An American healthcare story. by Nurse Talk

New from Code WACK, A devastating loss, then corporate callousness. An American healthcare story.

Join Dr. Howard Pinderhughes and host Brenda Gazzar as they discuss innovative programs that are helping to heal community trauma. Is community healing simply psychological and emotional, or is it more? What is the role of the community in the healing process? How could our healthcare system go beyond treating the individual to promoting community wellness?

New from Code WACK, How We Heal: Strategies for Tackling Community Trauma

The tragic effects of structural violence & community trauma, Featuring Howard Pinderhughes, Ph.D. professor and department chair, Social & Behavioral Sciences Dept, School of Nursing, University of California San Francisco. This is a must listen to podcast!

New from Code WACK, The tragic effects of structural violence & community trauma

Assemblyman Ash Kalra represents California's 27th District which encompasses about half of the city of San Jose in the Silicon Valley. The first Indian-American to serve in the state's legislature, he has established himself as a progressive leader on issues ranging from criminal justice reform to the environment to health care and housing. His bill AB 1400, Guaranteed Health Care for All Act, would establish a California-based single-payer system covering all residents of the state. Get the ultimate insider’s perspective on the challenges California faces in this struggle, and find out why this bill is so important to Assemblyman Kalra!

New from Code WACK, Is 'Now' Our Moment for Healthcare Justice?

Check out Code WACK!’s latest illuminating podcast, the first of two featuring Assemblyman Ash Kalra discussing his healthcare legislation AB 1400, California Health Care for All. What’s California’s latest single-payer bill all about? Get the facts from its author, California Assemblyman Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), who introduced AB 1400, California Health Care for All (also known as CalCare), in early 2021. Why did Kalra introduce AB 1400? For one thing, he believes health care is a human right.

New from Code WACK, California Medicare for All? Assemblyman Ash Kalra is all in!

Check out Code WACK!’s latest insightful podcast, the second of two featuring Cindy Young, labor advocate and expert in health benefit negotiations, discussing how best to work with the labor movement in the fight for single-payer, Medicare for All. Host Brenda Gazzar and Young, board member of the California Alliance for Retired Americans and vice chair of Healthy California Now, talk about the winning strategies needed to guarantee American workers the healthcare security they need.

New from Code WACK, The Power of Labor in California’s Battle for Single Payer

Check out Code WACK!'s latest podcast featuring Cindy Young, labor advocate and expert in health benefit negotiations, discussing the significance of the labor movement in America’s struggle for healthcare justice, and the need for Medicare for All. Host Brenda Gazzar and Young, a board member of the California Alliance for Retired Americans and vice chair of the Healthy California Now coalition, explore the historic antecedents of our nation’s current healthcare system, including the heroic role played by the United Mine Workers of America in 1946 to win health benefits for the first time.

New from Code WACK, American workers' desperate fight for healthcare security

Join Code WACK! for the second of two podcasts featuring Thom Hartmann on America's healthcare fiasco and what we can do about it. After all, how does it help the nation’s health to have insurance industry executives sucking millions of dollars out of the system while Americans deny themselves healthcare because they can’t afford it? And why have our political leaders abandoned us to this mess? Host Brenda Gazzar and Hartmann, America’s No. 1 progressive talk radio show host and New York Times bestselling author, continue their discussion of his newest book, “The Hidden History of American Health Care: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich.”

New from Code WACK, Now's the time to fix our 'bloodsucking leech' of a healthcare system.

Join us for a lively discussion with Thom Hartmann about how America’s healthcare system got so screwed up! You probably know Thom Hartmann as America’s No. 1 progressive talk radio show host. But did you know that he’s also a New York Times bestseller? His latest book, “The Hidden History of American Health Care: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich,” is hot off the presses and already making waves. The book is not only easy-to-digest but super informative and part of Thom’s popular Hidden History book series.

New from Code WACK,Tune in! Thom Hartmann discusses his new book The Hidden History of Healthcare.

What’s the latest move to sell off traditional Medicare to venture capital and private equity? How will this affect your health care? Join host Brenda Gazzar and Dr. Ed Weisbart, board member of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), to learn about "direct contracting entities." What are they? How do they make money? Why is this a problem? And what can we do about it?

New from Code WACK, Wall Street's Latest Attack on Traditional Medicare

Despite the barrage of television commercials touting Medicare Advantage, is it really superior to traditional Medicare? How do the two programs differ on coverage, access and cost? Join host Brenda Gazzar and Dr. Ed Weisbart, retired family physician, former chief medical officer of Express Scripts and board member of Physicians for a National Health Program, for a deep dive into dismaying developments with Medicare, including how Medicare Advantage plans are draining the Medicare Trust Fund.

New from Code WACK, The Disadvantages of Medicare Advantage

What essential coverage could Improved Medicare for All offer seniors that they can’t get through Medicare? And what’s California up to when it comes to healthcare reform...another commission? Really? Host Brenda Gazzar and Jodi Reid, executive director of the California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA), share updates from the Golden State and talk about how we can trigger the political will for change.

New from Code WACK, Is California's healthcare future in the hands of a commission?

New from Code WACK, Making Medicare Even Better? The Promise of Improved Medicare for All by Nurse Talk

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