Medicare For All, and How to Pay For It

The guest host for today's show is Brad Bannon. Brad runs Bannon Communications Research, a polling, message development and media firm which helps labor unions, progressive issue groups and Democratic candidates win public affairs and political campaigns. His new show, 'Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon,' airs every Monday from 3-4pm ET.

Brad is first joined by Wendell Potter, President of 'Business for Medicare for All.'  He is also the founder of the journalism nonprofit Tarbell.org and author of the New York Times bestseller 'Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans' and 'Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy and What We Can Do About It.'

Wendell previously served as an executive for two of the country’s largest health insurers, Humana and Cigna. In 2008, he left his job as head of corporate communications at Cigna after what he has described as a crisis of conscience. He went on to become a leading advocate of health care reform and a critic of the U.S. health insurance industry. He has testified before Congress and state legislatures numerous times over the past decade and has been a frequent guest on TV and radio news programs.

 

Wendell's website is BusinessForMedicareForAll.com and his Twitter handle is @WendellPotter.

Wendell and Brad analyze how 'Medicare for All' compares with our current healthcare system in the U.S., as well as the viability of it passing through Congress if Senators Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders become our next President.  The two also discuss Senator Warren's recently announced 'Medicare for All' plan, including how it would be financed.

During the second half of the show, Brad leads a political round-table with two guests who continue the 'Medicare for All' discussion, and also discuss some recent 2020 battleground state polling.

The two round table guests are Tim Zenk and Mark Grimaldi.  Tim is a Principle at 'Molecule,' a business and public affairs company, a former Democratic staffer, and a well known renewable energy expert. His Twitter handle is @greencrude.

 

Mark Grimaldi, or 'Marky Mark' as Leslie Marshall calls him, is the Executive Producer of this show and a Democratic Activist. His Twitter handle is @MarkJGrimaldi.

Brad writes a column every Sunday on the 2020 Presidential race for 'The Hill.' He's on the National Journal's panel of political insiders and is a national political analyst for WGN TV and Radio in Chicago.
You can read Brad's columns at www.MuckRack.com/Brad-Bannon. His Twitter handle is @BradBannon.