Our guest today on the Lean to the Left podcast is Dr. Joe Eusterman, now nearly 93 years old, spent 50 years practicing internal, occupational and environmental medicine in Oregon and elsewhere, and is mad as hell.
In fact, Dr. Joe is so upset that he launched Mad As Hell Doctors.com 14 years ago, and traveled around the country in a decked out RV trying to do something about America’s health care system.
Dr. Joe is not on the road anymore, but is still mad as hell and promises to remain so until we have universal health care for all Americans. Dr. Joe is part of Physicians for a National Health Program, which promotes public advocacy and continues to see enactment of a single payer healthcare system, such as Medicare for All.
We know that Bernie Sanders made Medicare for All a cornerstone of his presidential campaign, but in this divided Congress – even with Democrats in theoretical control – there doesn’t seem to be much hope, at least in the immediate future.
According to Dr. Joe, the healthcare system in the U.S. is far too costly and at the same time inefficient. A focus on money and profit is at the heart of the problem, he contends, and the major reason why Congress has refused to enact Medicare for All.
But he is optimistic and has no intention of quitting, and he hopes you’ll pitch in and help, too.
Here are some links to resources recommended by Dr. Joe:
On YouTube:
Health, Money and Fear; The Healthcare Movie; Prairie Giant: The Story of Tommy Douglas; The Story of Mouseland.
Organizations & Background info:
pnhp.org/what-is-single-payer/
pnhp.org/about/pnhp-mission-statement/
Single Payer bills:
Pramila Jayapal-HR1976-"Medicare For All Act of 2021"
Bernie Sanders- SB4204-"Medicare For All Act of 2022"
Ro Khanna-HR3775-"State-based Universal Health Care Act of 2021"
Here are some questions answered by Dr. Joe in this episode:
1. Are you still mad as hell?
2. Why?
3. What are you doing to effect change?
4. What’s chances for a single payor system in today’s political atmosphere?
5. Why would it be beneficial?
6. Critics say it would put healthcare in the hands of bureaucrats and create long lines and wait times for appointments. Are they wrong? If so, why?
7. Do you have some experiences from your practice of medicine that you can share that relate to this topic?
8. How many bus trips did you take? When was the last one? What did you do?
9. You’re almost 93. What are you going to do when you really retire?
Listen to the interview: