What A Day - The Ghost of America’s Health Care Future

Episode Date: December 6, 2019

A multi-million-dollar lobbying group is running ads in early primary voting states against Medicare For All and the public option. In our “We Have Issues 2020” segment, we talk to congresswoman Pramila Jayapal about where the candidates stand on healthcare coverage, and how Medicare For All works as a campaign issue. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday that she will instruct congress to draft the articles of impeachment against President Trump. Meanwhile, top Trump bud Rudy Giuliani is gallivanting around Ukraine, making some sort of investigative documentary about the same subject. And in headlines: striking in France, Ice T stands with the Internet, and Joe Biden flaunts his pecs.

It's Friday, December 6th. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is What A Day, the all-red starbursts of daily news podcasts. Yeah, miss me with those oranges and yellows. Starburst. Get out of here. On today's show, Medicare for All and the lobbyists' effort to destroy it, and some headlines. But first, an impeachment update. I really miss that blast sound. I know it's not really like a blast today, but can we just get that for old time's sake?

I can finally breathe again. Yes. In a hallway outside of her office in the Capitol on Thursday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced that she has asked House Chairs Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler to proceed with drafting articles of impeachment, saying, quote, the president abused his power for his own personal political benefit. She then reiterated that our democracy is what's at stake. Several hours later, she held a press conference. And as she walked from the stage, a reporter asked her if she hates President Trump, which is a stupid-ass question because

her personal feelings about the president are irrelevant to whether or not his offenses are impeachable. But Nancy had time yesterday, so she reversed course and walked back to the mic to tell the reporter to come correct. Do you hate the president, Madam Speaker? I think it's an important point. I think the president is a coward when it comes to helping our kids who are afraid of gun violence. I think he is cruel when he doesn't deal with helping our dreamers, of which we're very proud. I think he's in denial about the climate crisis. However, that's about the election. This is about the election. Take it up in the election. This is about the Constitution of the United States and the facts

that lead to the president's violation of his oath of office. And as a Catholic, I resent you're using the word hate in a sentence that addresses me. I don't hate anyone. I was raised in a way that is a heart full of love and always prayed for the president. And I still pray for the president. I pray for the president all the time. So don't mess with me when it comes to words like that. Lesson, don't put words in Miss Nancy's mouth. Yeah, wow.

I certainly do hate some people. Just before the house. Yeah, wow. I certainly do hate some people. Okay, cool. Sounds like it was directed at you. It was not. Just before the House Speaker made her announcement, Donald Trump tweeted, quote, if you are going to impeach me, do it now fast so we can have a fair trial in the Senate and so that our country can get back to business. As we all know, the Senate is under Republican majority. So Trump clearly thinks they're going to go easier on him than the House of Representatives has. But who am I telling? You guys already know this. No. But at the same time, as all of this impeachment news is coming out,

halfway around the world and completely untethered from reality, Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who is reportedly under investigation by federal prosecutors for potentially violating federal lobbying laws, is in Ukraine working on a documentary series that he believes will exonerate himself and the president. Here's a trailer for the series, which is already airing on prestigious documentary platform, the One America News Network. In the next One America News Investigates, we talk to witnesses who destroy Adam Schiff's baseless impeachment case against President Trump. In a two-part exclusive, Rudy Giuliani debunks the impeachment hoax and exposes Biden family corruption in Ukraine.

So I guess they're just going to screen this in the Senate instead of calling witnesses. That's their new plan. Well, as of now, the doc is called Ukrainian Witnesses Destroy Schiff's Case with Rudy Giuliani, and they're currently shooting part three. But that name is super long and not catchy at all. And we don't want Rudy to screw up the marketing of his masterwork and knock it out of contention for all the big documentary awards this year. So we're helping Rudy settle on a better name on a segment we're calling Oscars So Rudy. Fanfare. Beautiful. Stunning. So Gideon, we all wrote a bunch of improved Giuliani documentary

titles down on pieces of paper. We mixed them up in a bowl and we're going to pull the names out and our sound engineer, Charlotte, is going to tell us whether they're good or not with some sounds all right uh let's let's you go first you go first all right all right here you go uh making a perjurer obstructed in plain sight oh wow. Gray Pardons. Wow. Okay. That's ridiculous. Last Waltz Into Jail. Okay. Man on Liar. Exit Through the Grift Shop.

Yeah. Fool Inc. Okay. Play on Food Inc. I get it. Free Bozo. Like Free Solo. Every time there's a long pause, I know it. Free Bozo? Like free solo? No. Every time there's a long pause, I know it's going to be negative. 20 Feet from Dispartum.

That one's solid. Okay. And how about Gimme Tax Shelter? Okay. It is funny. That's a good one. Wow. Seems positive.

A sitcom bit of laughter. All right. Well, there you go, Rudy. If you think you can do better at home, tweet at us with the hashtag OscarsSoRudy and your favorite Oscar-worthy Rudy Giuliani documentary title. We're going to be doing it, too. Yeah, we are going to be doing it. So impeachment is rolling right along. The House Judiciary Committee is on track to start debating and voting on articles of impeachment at the end of next week. And we could see a full House vote

by Christmas. The next impeachment hearing is scheduled for Monday, December 9th, when impeachment investigators will present evidence to the Judiciary Committee, which could include findings from the Ukraine inquiry and Robert Mueller's Russia special investigation. You ever look at a deductible and say, damn, that's pretty awesome? Nope. You ever get a $10,000 bill after an ambulance takes you to an out-of-network hospital when you had a heart attack and think, they had a point. I should have known better. You ever give a health insurance CEO a firm handshake and say, I never thought I'd meet

a superhero in real life? Negative. Well, today in our We Have Issues 2020 segment, we're going to examine Medicare for All, the proposals around it in Congress and on the campaign trail, as well as the major push from a lobbying group to keep it from becoming reality. Ever since a man got a train spike through his brain that changed his personality, people have dreamed of a health care system that would cover every American.

When Teddy Roosevelt ran for a third term in the White House in 1912, he defected. OK, we got it. People have been asking for this for a really long time. Gideon, please just tell the good people who are listening why we're talking about this today and get on with it. All right. All right. So the full history for another day, then. Right now, let's focus on something from this week that many people may have missed, but we think is worth your attention. There are a lot of reasons why ambitious health care reform bills don't make it into law. And one of them is the strength of America's powerful health care lobbying groups and resistance from the health insurance industry writ large. And that brings us to the news of the week. The Washington Post found that

lobbyists had taken part in the writing or revising of op eds credited to three state lawmakers, each of whom suggested that government-sponsored health care was dangerous and bad. The lawmakers reportedly received help from two lobbyists, and the op-eds did not disclose that they were written with the help of those lobbyists. So they actually changed the text from these lawmakers so it would better suit their business agenda. Not only did they do that, but they turned around and then use it in a press release to be like, see, these guys who we had nothing to do with agree with us on this crucial issue. Yeah. So this group is called Partnership for America's

Healthcare Future. And it's a multimillion dollar lobbying group founded in 2018 and funded by hospitals, private insurers, drug companies, and other private health care firms, which have been part of an age-old fight to tip the scales against universal health care. Now, they have paid for more than one million in television ads since August and have also specifically targeted voters in early primary voting states. It's nuts. It's just nuts. So they really hate Medicare for All, which is the final boss of universal health care plans, as we all know, which is a single payer proposal anding change to the U.S. healthcare system that would allow people to enroll in publicly run insurance if they wanted to, as evidenced by ads that the group has run

like this. We don't want to be forced into a one-size-fits-all government insurance system. The politicians may call it Medicare for all, Medicare buy-in, or the public option. But they mean the same thing. Higher taxes or higher premiums, lower quality care. Hmm. Okay. So they just don't seem to really want much of any improvements then. It must be frustrating for people that are Medicare for all advocates to see the industry lobbying attacks like this, but it also kind of shows that they're scared. Yeah, I definitely think that's true. I spoke with Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, the co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus, about

this whole issue. Jayapal has introduced Medicare for All legislation in the House and has led the first hearings on it in Congress's history. It's outrageous. I have really been incredibly angered over and over again in the last many months by the devious ways in which industry is trying to control the conversation, which really only benefits them. And this is the thing, if they were benefiting themselves, and nobody else was getting hurt, that would be one thing. But we have half a million Americans who are declaring bankruptcy every year because they can't afford health care costs because of the status quo system that we have. So not everyone in the Democratic presidential primary is in agreement on Medicare for all, though. Yeah. With some noticeable differences in the top tier of candidates.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So this is kind of the cheat sheet version. But I really encourage people to go read and listen to what all the candidates have to say about this beyond just the short debate back and forth, because it is difficult to summarize. So Senator Bernie Sanders has been talking about Medicare for all for a very long time and obviously ran on it in his first presidential campaign in 2016. As he has put it in debates, he, quote, wrote the damn bill. Sanders is seen as the strongest advocate for it in the

entire field. But going through the rest of the current top four polling candidates, Senator Elizabeth Warren supports it, too. Those two are the ones of the top four who, you know, are still on this train. But she drew flack for delaying an explanation for how she would actually pay for it. Additionally, Warren's transition plan doesn't call for the immediate implementation as Sanders does, but rather over a three-year period. So that's the other kind of... Major difference.

Yeah, major difference. You can point out any difference. There it is. Yeah, yeah. Then there's South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden, who are opposed to Medicare for All, but have advocated for a public option,

which they argue is less pricey and disruptive and more politically feasible. They both have gone after Warren on this, and Jayapal is not too keen on seeing other Democratic candidates attack Medicare for All. The reality is what they're proposing doesn't fix the problem, and it also doesn't get all those lobbyists your back. So either way, I fear that somebody who comes in advocating for some half measure is really going to do long-term damage to the party and to the country because they're not going to be able to fix the problem. And Americans are not stupid. They're very, very smart. The reason they see this as such a top issue is because they're family members. Everyone knows somebody who is going through this crisis. So she's saying these lobbyists, in order to protect the industry's financial interests,

are going to be against even the most modest improvements to the health care system. So why not just go for broke and say, yeah, we want Medicare for all? Yeah, that is her argument and the big argument that Medicare for all advocates have had for a long time. So this is going to be a big year, both in Congress and in the election for seeing what the future of Medicare for all actually looks like and whether the advocates and voters and candidates who support it can overcome efforts from the health insurance industry to sink it.

Um, for now, Jayapal is hopeful that her work on it would not be stymied. Even if Democrats pick a nominee who doesn't support it. In my ideal world, we would have a Democratic nominee who says, absolutely, I'm going to make this the priority and to make sure that every American has health care and that we cut all of these administrative waste of the for-profit companies out so that we can provide that care comprehensively and for the long term. If we don't have that nominee, I'm like water on a rock when I need to get something done.

I'm going to just keep working at it, and our movement is strong and resilient. All right. Well, throughout the primary, we're going to spend time on issue segments like these, showcasing some of the major conversations candidates are having and what is impacting the presidential election. And now for some ads. Today's episode is brought to you by Dark Waters from Focus Features and Participant, who brought you the Best Picture Winner Spotlight starring Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, and Tim Robbins,

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We'll see you sipping at the Western Conference finals. Climb that ladder. Climb it. Let's get back to the show. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. Uber released its first safety report yesterday, and the results are disturbing. According to the data from 2018, over 3,000 people in the United States were sexually assaulted during rides,

58 were killed in crashes, and 9 were murdered. Rideshare apps like Uber, Lyft, and others have long been scrutinized for not having sufficient background checks on their drivers. Now this first-of-its-kind report reveals the drastic numbers. Uber made sure to remind readers that 99.9% of trips were safe and that they technically weren't forced to release the report. They just thought we should know. The company also says it will be partnering with a nonprofit to launch a support hotline for sexual violence, and it is urging other rideshare companies to release their own numbers. Nationwide demonstrations in France led major parts of the country to shut down on Thursday.

Transportation workers, teachers, hospital employees, and other laborers came together to protest new changes to the country's pension system. Some marches in Paris and Bordeaux escalated into violent confrontations with police. The massive turnout yesterday was one of the largest that France has seen in recent years, and it signals a deep, growing frustration towards the government and President Emmanuel Macron. Macron. Hot off a widely celebrated anti-Trump ad and a good week for his presidential prospects, ex-VP and tough-as-nails former lifeguard Joe Biden exchanged some harsh words with a voter at an Iowa town hall. This voter accused Biden of, quote, selling access to the president in exchange for his son's appointment to the board of a Ukrainian gas company. And he also suggested that Biden was too old to run for president. Here's how Biden responded. Look, the reason I'm running is because I've been around a long time and I've known more than most people know.

And I can get things done. That's why I'm running. And you want to check my shape, let's do push-ups together, man. Let's do this run. Let's do whatever you want to do. You heard it here first. Joe Biden is campaigning to bring strong pectorals back to the Oval Office. In the same exchange, Biden also called the voter, quote, sedentary and a word that sounded a lot like fat. He claims what he really said was facts. Either way, he should be careful about making this election too much about physical fitness because he'd

be playing into the brawny, calloused hands of a hulking congressman from Maryland named John Delaney. You do this every time you're obsessed with his body. Okay. And in a time of so much discord and disunity, only one man has the strength to hold the entire world in his arms.

No, not John Delaney. They call him Ice-T. And he has one of the greatest Twitter accounts of all time. After Ice told one person on Twitter he, quote, stands with gamers, yesterday the entire internet lined up behind him to ask Ice if he stands with their community. He responded to a lot of them. And so now, here are the groups we know beyond question that Ice-T stands with. The metalheads, the juggalos, the soldiers, the punks.

All generations, just not the dumb fucks. Mexicans, Canadians, except for the border cops. Lesbians, the British, the Irish, the Goths, people from the Bronx, and Albanians. Ice is truly a king among men. Ice-T 2020. And those are the headlines. And that's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, give us a rating, re-gram my Uncut Gems meme, and tell your friends to listen. By the way, if you're into reading and not just your Spotify wrapped, which is objectively perfect like mine, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash newsletters. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And that's

why the Oscar for Best Documentary goes to Rudy Giuliani. What a day is a product of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tunn is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.