Episode 40: Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Medicare For All
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed discusses the corrupt and wasteful private healthcare system and why need Medicare For All and a true public health system.
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is a physician, epidemiologist, educator, author, speaker, and podcast host. He is a commentator at CNN and his newsletter, The Incision, cuts into the trends shaping our moment. His three books include Healing Politics: A Doctor’s Journey into the Heart of Our Political Epidemic (Abrams Press, 2020), which diagnoses our country’s epidemic of insecurity and the empathy politics we will need to treat it; and Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide (Oxford University Press, 2021), co-authored with Dr. Micah Johnson, which offers a no nonsense guide to the policy. He is the host of “America Dissected,” a podcast by Crooked Media, which goes beyond the headlines to explore what really matters for our health. He is a Senior Fellow at the FXB Center for Health & Human Rights at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and a Scholar-in-Residence at Wayne State University and American University, where he teaches at the intersection between public health, public policy, and politics.
In 2018, Abdul ran for Governor of Michigan on an unapologetically progressive platform, advocating for universal healthcare, clean water for all, debt-free and tuition-free higher education, a pathway to 100% renewable energy, and to rebuild the barrier between corporations and government. Abdul holds a doctorate in Public Health from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, as well as a medical degree from Columbia University, where he was a Medical Scientist Training Program Fellow and a Soros New Americans Fellow. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Highest Distinction from the University of Michigan. He is a native Michigander who was born and raised in Metro Detroit, where he lives with his wife, Sarah, a mental health doctor, and daughter Emmalee. He is a proud member of the National Writers Union, AFT Local 477, and SEIU Local 500.
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Episode #39 Notes
1:00 - Why did you become a doctor?
3:15 - What were your main areas of study and what degrees did you earn?
6:30 - How did your experience in public health impact your views on medicine and social change?
6:45 - What are the challenges in the food system that you are trying to address?
8:40 - How did you realize economic austerity measures were impacting public health?
12:00 - How does food and environmental justice issues intersect with health?
14:00 - What did you realize was underlying all the national public health crises?
17:00 - Why can’t our current health system address these health crises?
20:10 - What do you see elsewhere that our current healthcare system is lacking?
23:50 - What do we mean by Medicare For All, and how would it function?
26:30 - How would we pay for Medicare For All?
30:45 - How would patient care improve under some of these changes? Also, what’s the difference between Medicare For All and Universal Healthcare?
33:40 - What were your most popular policy platforms when you ran for governor?
35:30 - Suggested Readings?
Healing Politics: A Doctors Journey Into The Heart of Our Political Epidemic, Dr. Abdul Al-Sayed
An American Sickness, Elizabeth Rosenthal
America’s Bitter Pill, Steven Brill
Pharma, Gerald Posner
