Positively Progressive

Thoughts on this installment of my podcast are shared in two sections.

I. PDA’s announcement of our latest episode:

In the latest episode of Positively Progressive, Donna Smith chats with California single-payer healthcare advocate and activist Michael Lighty. Not everyone agrees on the best path through the policy and political trenches of the U.S. healthcare system to get to a universal plan, and Michael is a lightning rod of energy and promise for the movement to achieve health justice. Join us as PDA continues to stand for the human right to healthcare in California and throughout the land.

II. When Oregon or California Gets It, I’m Moving

I know there are those in the movement to secure some sanity and stability in the U.S. mess-of-a-healthcare-system who want to argue about the motives and abilities of various individual activists. In this episode of Positively Progressive, I talk with one of our nation’s most brilliant health policy minds who also is a lightning rod for commentary by other brilliant policy and organizing minds who either agree or disagree with my unwavering admiration for Michael Lighty of California.

Michael was my boss for years when I worked as the national single-payer organizer for National Nurses United/California Nurses Association. He was the toughest boss and sometimes most infuriating human being I had ever known. Let’s just say that it was probably a very good thing I lived and was based in the Washington, D.C., area while Michael lived in Oakland, CA. Yet, over the years I learned more about healthcare in general and single-payer specifically than I ever could have had I not been lucky enough to do what I did for all those years and all those miles — and lucky enough to work for Michael.

Though I am not on the ground in California or D.C. anymore and I don’t know all the in and outs of the issues advocates and activists face in California and other states among their organizations and between individuals, I know Michael Lighty has given much of his life to fighting for people he might have never considered. Michael’s observations and ideas are stellar.

I remember when my husband, Larry, and I first heard Michael give a presentation on the U.S. healthcare system. My husband, a retired machinist, was unusually impressed. “Boy, he sure knows his stuff, and I understood him.” Indeed. And all these years later, he still knows his stuff and he’s fighting for all of us.

— 30 —

Enjoy. And if you have requests for guests or topics you’d like me to cover, send the info.