The Case for Medicare for All in Massachusetts -- Mass-Care and Healthcare Now

Hi, this is Anna Callahan and you’re listening to Incorruptible Massachusetts.  Our goal is to help people understand state politics: we’re investigating why it’s so broken, imagining what we could have here in MA if we fixed it, and reporting on how you can get involved. Today I’m interviewing Rebecca Wood from Mass-Care and Benjamin Day from Healthcare Now.  Both are working to pass a Medicare for All-type healthcare system.I think it’s hard to listen to this interview and not feel outraged.  Rebecca Wood’s personal story is one that no one should ever have, and it always brings me to tears.  It’s only in America that people have heart-wrenching stories like hers.  Under Mitt Romney, our state was the first to pass an ObamaCare-like system; we were leaders then and should be leaders now, especially when polls show that a strong majority of Massachusetts residents favor it.  State Rep Lindsay Sabadosa has introduced a bill that would enact a single-payer, Medicare for all-like system here in Massachusetts.  Why can’t we pass it?You’ll hear two more outrageous things in this interview.  The first is that our current healthcare system is quickly becoming so expensive for our state that it is "devouring the governments ability to provide services for anything else.”  We must pass single-payer just to be fiscally responsible.  The second thing is that the healthcare lobby is now the most powerful lobby acting at the state level.  It used to be people in finance meeting in an old bank vault, this is no joke — and now it’s health industry lobbyists that control the state house. About my interviewees: Rebecca Wood is a Community Organizer with Mass-Care, Massachusetts Campaign For Single Payer Health Care. Rebecca told her and Charlie’s story at the introduction of Senator Sanders’ Medicare For All Act of 2017 and testified before the House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Pathways to Universal Coverage. Prior to working on single-payer health care, she was a park ranger. Benjamin Day is the executive Director of Healthcare-NOW, which is fighting to win a national single-payer healthcare system.  He was previously the Executive Director of Mass-Care.  Prior to his work at Mass-Care, Ben's background was in labor education and labor research.Without further ado, here is my conversation with Rebecca Wood and Benjamin Day.