Latest / Single Payer Health Care / Single Payer Radio | Dr Swannie Jett, Park Duvalle Community Health Center | 10-26-2026

Transcript

Single Payer Radio | Dr Swannie Jett, Park Duvalle Community Health Center | 10-26-2026 · Single Payer Health Care

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Single Pair Radio. I'm Paul Hoppe,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: broadcasting from the Haven Building in Louisville on the WFMP 106.5
• 0:09
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• 0:20
  Speaker 1: of the speakers and not the station. Single Pair Radio
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: is produced by Kentuckians for Single Pair Healthcare and in
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: conjunction with physicians for a national health program. We produce
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: this program because we believe health care is a human right.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: We advocate for a national, not-for-profit, publicly funded, single-payer health
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: care system commonly known as Medicare for All. It would
• 0:44
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• 0:49
  Speaker 1: covering everyone, starting at birth. Catch our programs at 2 p.m. Monday,
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• 0:57
  Speaker 2: On Wednesday.
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  Speaker 1: We also stream our show on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, and
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: others so you can listen anytime. And remember, this is
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: an all-volunteer radio station and relies on your ideas and
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: donations to keep us on the air. Before today's show,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: I'd like to take a moment to remind you that
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: on November 3rd, we are going to have what may
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: be the most consequential election in our lifetime. It could
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: very well be that the survival of our democracy is
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: at stake. So be prepared to vote and encourage others
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: to do the same. Today, I'm joined by Kay Tillow,
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  Speaker 1: Kentuckians for Single-Payer Health Care Chairperson, and our special guest, Dr.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Swanee Jett, CEO of the Park Duval Medical Centers here
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  Speaker 1: in Louisville, Kentucky.
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  Speaker 2: Dr.
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  Speaker 1: Jett previously served as Director of Health and Human Services
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  Speaker 1: for Brookline, Massachusetts from 2017 to 2021, and as Health
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Officer Surgeon General for Seminole County, Florida from 2013 to 2016.
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  Speaker 1: He previously served in Kentucky as Health Officer of the
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  Speaker 1: Bullitt County Health Department from 2009 to 2013.
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  Speaker 3: Dr.
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  Speaker 1: Jett is currently a Lieutenant Colonel in the Rhode Island
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Air National Guard, where his latest assignment was in Senegal, Africa,
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  Speaker 1: assisting with the Ebola virus outbreak.
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  Speaker 2: Dr.
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  Speaker 1: Jett is a national leader in public health, is the
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  Speaker 1: past president of the National Association of County and City
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  Speaker 1: Health Officials.
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  Speaker 2: Dr.
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  Speaker 1: Jett holds a doctorate of public health with emphasis in
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: environmental health and preventive medicine from the University of Kentucky,
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  Speaker 1: master of science degree from the University of Tennessee in
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  Speaker 1: biosystems engineering, and bachelor's of science in agricultural statistics from
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Tennessee State University.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome, Dr. Jett.
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  Speaker 1: To start, I invite you to make any opening remarks
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  Speaker 1: you may have for us, and then Kay will open
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  Speaker 1: the discussion.
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  Speaker 2: Okay. Well, first I'll say thank you for having me.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: You know, it's always a privilege to provide insight, information
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  Speaker 2: to people, and try to be a voice for the
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: people of reason. I am now retired from the... Air
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: National Guard. I retired last year. So my last duty
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: station was actually in Little Rock, Arkansas. So I was
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: about a seven and a half hour drive from there.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: But that's all. All right.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm going to turn this over to Kay then.
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  Speaker 1: And she's got some questions that she'll start with. And
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  Speaker 1: we'll discuss those. And hopefully we'll have a great program.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we're really excited that you could join us Dr.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: Jett for this radio program. We had not met you
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: until we heard you speak at that Medicaid listening tour
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: that took place on October 1.
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: And we were.
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  Speaker 3: Certainly impressed with what you had to say. And we
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: did know, we still know your predecessor, at least one
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: of them, the Parc Duval Center because we are friends
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: with Anne Hagen Grigsby who is one of the people
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  Speaker 3: who often volunteers her time to speak for single-payer health care,
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  Speaker 3: Medicare for All.
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  Speaker 4: So we love Anne and.
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  Speaker 3: She has always invited us to set up tables when
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  Speaker 3: the Parc Duval.
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  Speaker 4: System has their events.
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  Speaker 3: So We're really happy to meet you and to have
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  Speaker 3: you with us and to get to know you. So
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  Speaker 3: perhaps you could just begin with telling us where you're
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  Speaker 3: from and where you grew up.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good point. So, you know, it probably
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: isn't no secret, but I grew up in Chicago on
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: the South Side in a place called Inglewood. I grew
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: up around, you know, it was middle class as I
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: was growing up. By the time I By the time
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  Speaker 2: I was in high school, it was, man, stricken with poverty.
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  Speaker 2: We had a lot of gangs at the time. And
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  Speaker 2: I would say at that time, drugs became infiltrated on
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: the south side of Chicago. So a lot of the
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: disparities that I see today, I actually grew up in
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: that environment. Hmm.
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  Speaker 3: So how did you, coming from that difficult background, manage
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  Speaker 3: to gain such an impressive education.
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  Speaker 4: And go into public health?
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  Speaker 2: That's a mouthful. Well, first, let me just say, it
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: was probably by the grace of God. The only thing
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: I wanted to do in life was to play football
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: in the NFL and to be an artist. And so
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: I went to college to play football, and I found
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: a way that I learned how to study. I studied engineering,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: so I have two, I graduated engineering. And then I
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: came to work for Louisville Metro Public Health, turned down
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: an offer to play overseas. And as I was a
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: little bit of public health, a funny thing I learned,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: I already knew about environmental services and sciences. My background
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: was in environmental engineering. So I did that. And then
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: I continued to move around within the health department. And
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: one day I was approached by John Wigg and Joel Lee,
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: who both have now departed. They came to me and said,
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  Speaker 2: you know, you'd be the perfect candidate to enter our
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: doctoral program and get a degree in public health. You
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: have a rich background in public health. Even though I
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: had just been doing it for eight years. And so
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: I pursued my doctorate as I continued on my skills
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: in public health. And in 2009, I was delighted. I
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: became the CEO of the Health Commission for Public Health
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Department right next door. And that sort of, I would say,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: launched my career, put me on the national spotlight. I
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: passed the first smoke event with the board in Bullitt County.
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  Speaker 2: And it also included e-cigarettes. So if you think about it, 2010,
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  Speaker 2: no one had e-cigarettes on the radar. We were one
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  Speaker 2: of 31 in the nation that included e-cigarettes at our
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  Speaker 2: smoke event. And CDC caught wind and asked me to
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: come and speak. And how did I come up with
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: that strategy? And next thing you know, I'm on the
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  Speaker 2: National Association of County and City Health, because Florida became
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: a national leader in public health. And the rest is history.
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  Speaker 4: Okay.
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  Speaker 2: Kind of an interesting story, right?
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  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm curious.
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  Speaker 2: You said he's cigarettes.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Now, that is the forerunner of vaping instruments. That's correct, right?
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: That is correct.
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  Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah, at that time, when I looked at the data,
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: I did a survey with the help of the University
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: of Kentucky to all the citizens in Billy County to
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: ask if they wanted a smoking ban. Then I did
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: a campaign with the citizens and kind of like provided
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: the information at a board meeting before we took a vote.
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  Speaker 2: But I had did some background on e-cigarettes, vaping, and
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: I knew that at some point it was going to become,
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: it had a lot of chemicals inside the vapes that eventually,
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: I said, might be associated to cancer. Didn't have the
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: data enough at the time, but I thought, let me
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: take a stab at this because I think this is
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: going to hit us down the road. And it surely did.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: So I'm glad I had the foresight to put it
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  Speaker 2: in there and that the board approved.
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  Speaker 5: It.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 3: And if I could just ask one question, I was
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  Speaker 3: intrigued that you had been fighting Ebola in Senegal in
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  Speaker 3: West Africa. And it seems to me, I know it's
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  Speaker 3: a very infectious and deadly disease. And I was wondering,
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  Speaker 3: what made you decide to do that? And what was
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  Speaker 3: that experience?
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  Speaker 2: You know, my background is epidemiology. And at the time,
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  Speaker 2: I was... public health officer for a contingency response group
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: in the Air Force here in Logan, Kentucky. And so
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  Speaker 2: they want to do the mission in terms of delivering
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  Speaker 2: supplies from Senegal to Liberia. I knew about the disease because, well,
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: being the epidemiologist and health commissioner in Florida, I had
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: studied Ebola and We had a flight to come in
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  Speaker 2: from London by with Africa. And we actually had somebody
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  Speaker 2: on a plane that had all the symptoms. So I
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  Speaker 2: kind of knew I sent a crew out with PAPRs,
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: which is like a mock suit with air inside in
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: order to help them breathe. So if you do an assessment,
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  Speaker 2: I shut down the plane, shut down the hangar until
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  Speaker 2: we can assess. So I understood as a health commission,
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  Speaker 2: we can get Ebola into the country. It had a
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: 50% fatality ratio, unlike COVID. So 24,000 people got the disease, 12,000 died.
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  Speaker 2: So my unit wanted to go, but they only wanted
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: to go if I went. Because they believed that I
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: would keep them safe. And that I knew the protocols
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: on social distancing, wearing a mask. And then I knew
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: how to keep the crew safe. So it was 120
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: of us. And I was in Florida at the time,
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: so I had to fly up and then fly out
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: with the union. And then I had to explain the
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: infectious disease to medical doctors that did not understand the goal.
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  Speaker 2: And so we screened people while we were there. Everybody
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  Speaker 2: that came into the country, everybody that left Senegal were
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: screened by and turn it for the screen. If we
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: did find somebody that was hot or had symptoms, then
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: we isolated them. Now, why was this information important? So
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: being a health commissioner in Brookline, Massachusetts, I would get
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: the manifest of people traveling by car from Wuhan in
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: China in January 2020. So I already knew in our
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: underbelly of this country that we had COVID, SARS-2. So
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: I started quarantining people in January 2020. I started closing
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: events in February of 2020 because we had an Asian
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: New Year event parade and 18% of the population in
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: Brooklyn were Asian. And so I started shutting down events
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: In late March, or middle of March, once COVID became
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: well known, I actually did the first mask mandate in
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: the U.S. out of Brookline, Massachusetts. It was based on
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: the issues I dealt with with Ebola. There's no vaccine
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: mask six feet distance. So I readily implemented that. And
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: the town actually believed in it because of my experience
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: with Ebola. And we actually saved thousands of people.
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: Well, thank you.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you for that, for our country and for the world.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: That was truly a most terrible challenge. And we lost
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: so many that would not have had to leave us
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: had we handled this better and had more people with
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: your expertise.
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: I'd like to add something.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: With our current political climate, I kind of want to
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: ask your feelings about what the current administration is trying
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: to do to probably the most famous media figure of
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: the outbreak and try to put an 80 plus year
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: old man in jail right now. What are your thoughts
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: on that?
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Well, so the issue I had during Ebola is almost
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: similar issue. COVID was worse. Right now, we live in
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: a postmodern society, a postmodern thought process where people don't
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: believe in absolute truth. They don't believe in science. They
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: don't believe in data. It's based off of my lived experience, right?
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: And from a person's lived experience, that's how people make decisions. Now,
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: the problem is You're basing it off your lived experience
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: and not after that. So if I want to assess
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: you for depression, you're less likely to listen to a
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: doctor because you don't believe in depression. You believe in
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: just the lived state. So if you look at the
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: situation without you, you know, one, it was science driven.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: And the political climate doesn't believe in science. doesn't believe
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: in global warming. The political climate didn't believe in COVID
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: because one of the clear signs that was missed that
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: I learned from Ebola, the moment we knew there was
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: a potential for Ebola to hit this continent, this country,
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: we closed the borders. We closed every 20 countries in
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: West Africa, not three, which that's where Ebola was, but 20.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: So we overstated We knew at least back in November, December,
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: there was an outbreak in China. I knew, right? We
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: didn't close the border to China until almost March. By
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: January of 2020, China had already had 56,000 cases. So
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: the first thing you have to do is social distancing
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: came from A town that everybody had disease around the town,
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: except for this one particular town that was over in
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: New England. They social distanced themselves from everybody else by death, plague,
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: and everything. Killed off most of the people. The only
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: thing that kept that town alive, they didn't let anybody
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: in the town. So we have to go back to science.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: Right now, public health has been eroded. because nobody believes
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: in it. That's why it's an attack on vaccines, right?
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: That might soon be an attack on not wearing a seatbelt.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Nobody believes that mass shootings kills people. So we don't
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: have any gun laws until it impacts somebody that's in
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: power and their family. It's the only time the situation changes.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: And we did see during COVID, We had Dr. Cranston,
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: who was in administration, did not believe in COVID and
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: died of COVID. So when we get away from science
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: and using science and data to make the appropriate decisions,
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: then there's going to be a lot of careless mistakes happen.
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: That's true.
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: Well, I'd like to switch to a different topic or related, certainly,
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: because science is at the base of all of this.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: But I'd like for you to tell us a little
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: bit about the community health centers such as Park Duval
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: and what role they play in our system of health care.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you for that question. You know, the sad
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: part about the creation of Park the Ball. And I
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: guess it's part of the history of America. Park the
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: Ball Community Health Centers was started because African-American people could
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: not receive health services in Louisville, Kentucky. And it was
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: started by civil rights activists. That's what made up the
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: original board, actually. And Park Doral Community Health Center was
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: the first established health center in the state. And it
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: was the seventh in the nation. At that time, we
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: provided mainly adult medical and dental. Since that time period
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: at the first site started in 68, we provide pediatrics.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: We provide dental, WIC, dental health. lab, pharmacy, x-ray, OBGYN services,
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: along with adult medical, pediatrics. But also, we're now in
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: six locations. We're in the West End School, Russell neighborhood,
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Newburgh neighborhood, Taylorsville neighborhood, Taylorsville community. and also Eminence community
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: and Newburgh. We not only provide healthcare, we also have
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: an indoor farmer's market, which was renovated. It was a
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: grocery store. We opened this year, July 18th, and we
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: not only provide farmers, farmers provide the food, but they also,
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: we have a commercial kitchen in South Sioux to teach
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: people how to cook, how to prepare meals. We also
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: have a daycare food bank inside where people can get food.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: We're going to open up a daycare facility next to it,
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: and then the other side of feet, that would be
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: a wellness center. But we would have events. We could
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: have birthday parties. We could have health events there, but
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: also weddings if we need to. So my background in
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: public health is to not only provide health care, but
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: for decades, we've only provided health care and not to
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: So this was one step in order to prove the
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: overall legacy of Park Duval.
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: Could you, we're aware that the big, beautiful bill or
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: whatever it is called, it was HR1 that was passed
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: in 2025, makes some massive cuts in Medicaid. Could you
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: tell us what impact that will have on on people
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: in the country or in centers such as yours?
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: Well, I got a whole lot. I got 30 pages
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: of notes.
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: Well, first of all, Medicaid covers 1.4 million people.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: In the state. It covers 660,000 kids. and 440,000 expanded members.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: And we have about 65,000 providers for a $ 20. 3 billion budget. Now,
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: let's go back to the premise of why we're looking
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: at Medicaid cuts. The Trump administration and Project 2025 believe
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: that Medicaid is a socialist program. Part of the challenge
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: of that is it has to be funded. So most,
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: the brunt of the funding took place from the federal
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: level to the state level. Now, the administration is trying
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: to make it more of a 60-40, 50-50, which means
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: that there has to be some cuts because the state
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: itself cannot cover it all. Also, the administration didn't believe
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: in Affordable Care Act. So it's been challenges in the
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: courts to the Affordable Care Act. And people might say, well,
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: what all does Medicaid cover? So first, when it started,
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: it was the elderly and disabled that was receiving SSI.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: Then it expanded to home and community-based services. In 84,
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: it expanded to children and pregnant women. They became mandatory
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: upon the federal poverty level, under five. In 1989, children
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: under the age of six at 133% federal poverty level.
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: In 97, it became the State Children's Health Information Program, CAATSHA,
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: that's formal planning. And then in 2010, during the Affordable
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Care Act, it created options for states to cover adults
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: up to 130% of the federal level and mandated formal
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: foster youth coverage to age 26. And then Kentucky expanded
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Medicaid to the Affordable Care Act adult population and created
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: what we call now is KYNet. So it covers a lot.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: What's going to happen now in the HR1 major impacts
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: to Medicaid eligibility? Well, first is the work or community engagement.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: So some of those age 19 to 64 who are
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: enrolled in Medicaid-based income must meet a new work engagement requirement.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: to keep that coverage. That starts January 1. Current member
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: renewal starts February 2027. Now, the state legislation and the
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: Office of Medicaid here, they had a dispute on de-identifying
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: the data of patients. So what the state legislature is
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: going to do is all the names of everybody that
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: was on Medicaid, That was to say that we have
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: people fraudulent on Medicaid, right? Since CMS did not give
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: that data over, people must enroll two times a year
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: instead of the one time a year. So right now, 95,000
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: people have received notices from Medicaid that if they do
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: not re-enroll, they will be dropped. So the other issues
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: dealing with the major impacts is we used to be
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: able to submit for retroactive payments. So now Medicaid to
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: go back and like when a person comes, a patient
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: come in, one could go back three months to make
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: sure that they have coverage and make sure that we
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: can get the bills paid. And then limited to one
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: month for adult expansion population, and two months for everybody else.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: The other part is we had a lot of citizens
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: that were non-citizens and that were eligible. So the coverage
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: that would be through for these groups, refugees, parolees, survivors
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: of domestic violence, human trafficking with dependent status to Native Americans,
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: Conditional entries, emergency Medicaid would also be removed and only
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: be available for life-qualifying medical conditions. So when you think
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: about who's eligible now, right, beginning October 1, Full Medicaid
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: coverage will generally be limited to U.S. citizens and nationals,
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: lawful permanent residents, Cuban-Hasian entrants, compact of free associate migrants,
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: and Kentucky lawfully residing pregnant women and children regardless of
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: immigration status. So part of all community health centers, probably
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: in the past, I would say, 10% to 20% of
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: our patients might have been refugees. Anybody coming into this
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: country must be seen within 90 days to be screened.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: A lot of that came through Catholic charities. So the
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: impact of the changes in Medicaid coverage, I would say
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: not just for parking lot community health centers, will impact
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: 20% to 30% of the bottom line for community health
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: centers nationwide. For our budget, it used to be 80%
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: of our budget was Medicaid. 2022, I made a decision
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: to diversify. Right now, 45% of our patients are on Medicaid.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: We have commercial insurance, which is right around 30%, and
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: 10% Medicare. So we're probably going to move more to
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: increasing our Medicare population, which we should. And we have
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: to push to now give people a re-enrollment and actually
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: do a campaign. Because the cuts that's coming to Medicaid
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: are going to be drastic. So that was a lot.
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: That is a lot.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: When you spoke at the Medicaid listening tour, I think
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: I heard you say that you supported A one payer plan.
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: Could you explain what you meant and what this would
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: do for us?
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: Well, Medicare is simpler because it's one plan. And what
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: I've noticed through working in public health, some of the
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: healthiest countries in the world have a one-payer system. They
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: have the University of Healthcare.
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: And in And I look at that as we have
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: a one-person system. It's probably less great. The reason that
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: Medicaid or health insurance is so costly now is really
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: due to people making money. The hospital system was not
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: the first that was starting to provide health care. It
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: actually was your local health The oldest health department in
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: the nation is in Boston. And it was created to
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: help people that were coming back from sea. So it
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: was for sailors first and the trade routes. Louisville Metro
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: Public Health is one of the third or fourth oldest
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: in the nation. From that was born the hospitals. Because
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: people had to have a place to stay. But what
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: has happened over time is that people have figured out
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: how to make money from the insurance companies. And the
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: insurance companies are actually squeezing the money out of people.
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: People that are on Medicaid, obviously they can't afford the
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: high cost, the high premium of insurance. And so if
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: you look at the greater landscape, when Passport was started here,
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: it was started because the regular doctor's offices wouldn't receive
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: people that were poor. So if you had a schedule
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: of 12 people on a day, they would only put
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: one person that was on Medicaid. And I would even
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: go a little bit further. So when Passport Health Plan started,
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: it was the only plan at Medicaid that would take
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: high-risk patients. Most of the high-risk patients were high-risk pregnancies.
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: most of the high-risk pregnancy in Louisville Metro was in
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: the West End. And the infant mortality rate at that
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: time was 21 per thousand. So, 21 per thousand. And
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: the normal life expectancy was one month. That's how grave
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: it was. Passport Health Plan, when it did Medicaid, And
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: that was a bunch of dots coming together with Family
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: Health Center and Park DeVault. We actually started to see
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: infant mortality reductions in the West End. There were three
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: sites along with Family Health Center and Park DeVault that
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: address infant mortality. And those were Shawnee Health Center, Shawnee
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: Neighborhood Place, Bridges of Hope Neighborhood Place, and Ujima Duty
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: Health Start Program. And the job was actually to go
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: enroll pregnant women, walk them through the system, manage their care,
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: get them in the first trimester to reduce infant mortality.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: By that program, anybody that enrolled infant mortality was zero.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: That's the impact if you use Medicaid appropriately, but one
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: pair system.
• 33:26
  Speaker 4: Yes. That's an amazing accomplishment.
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: So the rate went from 20 to zero, but for
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: those who were enrolled.
• 33:37
  Speaker 4: In the system.
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: And the overall system, it dropped down to 11 deaths
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: per thousand. And so I inherited the same program when
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: I was in Florida, except Florida Department of Health paid
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: for it through the state. We had $ 147, 000 dedicated to
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: the program. And I probably had a staff of six
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: people that actually went out into the community and recruited people.
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: And they were paid through Medicaid to manage their health
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: care and actually reduce infirmatology. And saying infirmatology, and that
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: community was, Seminole County was just kind of a rich community.
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: Do you know the situation in terms of maternal mortality
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: in our city or in our country?
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I haven't looked up the exact figures lately,
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: but I do know right now in Louisville, the rate
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: has been increasing. But I don't know the exact figure
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: at this time.
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: It's my understanding.
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: I mean, we I don't know right on top of
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: it right now, but that the figures are like three
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: times what they are in the countries that do the best.
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: And those are the countries who have universal health care
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: systems and single payer systems. And that in general, in
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: our country, the rates are terrible in African-American communities.
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: But not only that, you see a high rate of
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: maternal death from the mom. And part of it is
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: because the system hasn't valued the mom's opinion, African-American mom.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: And they don't listen to them when they tell them
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: something is wrong. And so you've seen newspaper articles, news
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: reports on TV talking about African-American women dying from preeclampsia.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: And that's because they're just not paying attention. I did
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: recognize it one time and my two times through two
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: pregnancies of my wife. And so when I recognized it
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: real quick, I knew that they had heard to do
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: a C-section because if you don't, then you have the
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: opportunity to lose both the mom and the child. Okay.
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: Could you give us a picture as to where we
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: stand in terms of public health as a community or
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: as a nation? How do we live up to the
• 36:39
  Speaker 3: rest of the wealthy world?
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: That's a loaded question. You know, one, we have to
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: look at it differently. So as a health commissioner, My
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: job was to do a community health assessment. And I
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: would identify the top things we would need to change
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: in the community. And then I would work with the
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: hospital sector to look into how we can invest. When
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: you look at the public health structure in Louisville, I
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: want every community to be the same. And When I
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: look at Louisville, which is similar to every city, the
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: education system is not the same across the board, right?
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: What the kids are being taught, how the schools look,
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: how the community looks, the investment in people, the investment
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: in affordable housing the investment in the workforce to make
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: sure people are ready, the investment in beautifying the streets,
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: beautifying the parks, safe spaces to connect people, reducing violence
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: in the community, removing youth violence in the community, but
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: having a place where kids can play and be safe. right?
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: You see housing, education, income, reducing, you know, looking at opportunities,
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: poverty level. And then I would say probably the biggest
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: one is teaching people how to live. And that's an
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: interesting dynamic. And so How to eat to live instead
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: of living to eat. See, how do I be healthy? Right?
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: I need several things. If you look right on the
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: West End, if I walk out these.
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: Four walls, I.
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: Need some, I need healthy water. You need water to live.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: I need to be able to exercise. I need to
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: be able to afford a gym. I need to be
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: able to not breathe bad air. So the environment, because
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: the environment can cause allergies. You have the highest rates
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: of asthma on a gunk room.
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: That's tough for Louisville because we've got all these industrial
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: plants that are spewing out the unhealthy.
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: Air. And then the last part I need is healthy food. Now,
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: God posed a problem in the West End world because
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: you have one or two grocery stores serving 200,000 to 300,000 people.
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: But if I go into the grocery store and look
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: at how the grocery store is aligned for the customer,
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: what the first guy got is a soda. First thing
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: I have is not vegetables, but junk food. Right? I
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: have canned goods. Every mom and pop store you go to,
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: the first thing you walk in, into the West End
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: is junk. It's processed foods, things that will make you
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: sick over time. And not only that, the high rates
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: of obesity. So everything we're talking about in the public
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: health system is structured for us to live not healthy.
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: It's no fault of the people. We didn't build every
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: community to be the same.
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: And it was critical one time. One time I was
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: in Seminole County, Florida, which is on the Sanford in
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: seven cities. I was the health commissioner. So the first
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: thing I do in any major city is I drive
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: the city. I want to see where poor people live,
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: middle class people, rich people. I want to look at
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: how the community was built. Because that just from observation,
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: would tell me people's health outcomes. So think about that.
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: Just by driving the city, I can tell you where
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: the poorest health outcomes would be and what probability people
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: would die just by driving. So I found that there
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: was a high rate of pedestrian deaths due to being
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: struck by cars. So I said, interesting. So I followed
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: a school bus one day around the city. So in
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: the nice community, the median income in 2013 in Lake
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: Mary was $ 150, 000. The community was beautiful. Sidewalks, they had
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: beautiful parks. The bus drives up, drop the kid off.
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: The kid walks on the sidewalk. The other parent was
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: getting out of their car. I said, okay, looks beautiful.
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: I drove behind it. It gets to the city of Sanford.
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: City of Sanford was where Trevor Martin was killed in 2012.
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: It has a poor community called Goldsboro. So now Goldsboro,
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: had no sidewalks. The kids were getting off on dirt.
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: Some of the roads was dirt. They were walking home. Right?
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: So I asked the commissioner, I said, why did you
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: build sidewalk into the parking lot? Right? And he said
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: to me, They didn't ask for it. So I thought
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: to myself, I said, now you really tell me that
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: the community has to ask for sidewalks to be built.
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: Shouldn't every community be built the same? And that's the
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: basic point. If you want people to live long and healthy,
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: you have to place, put the proper infrastructure in place
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: for that to happen. And in this country, we have
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: not done it. And every issue is correlated to how
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: the country was built. And the only way that we
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: can change it is we have to reverse the same
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: policies they built on. And not everybody is willing to
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: do that.
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: What impact do you think it would have if our nation,
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: you know, it's all in the news now.
• 44:49
  Speaker 4: That an improved.
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: Medicare for all, you know, we see candidates running on
• 44:55
  Speaker 3: this issue and saying everybody needs coverage. And, you know,
• 44:59
  Speaker 3: it's a big controversy, but massive public support. What impact
• 45:05
  Speaker 3: do you think that would have if we could pass
• 45:09
  Speaker 3: an improved Medicare for all and coverage? everyone in the country?
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: Well, to be honest, you might see some people jump
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: off a bridge, jump off a tall building, because we
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: were put, in order to correct this ship, there would
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: be some losers. So the insurance company is big game.
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: And we will essentially be removing their cheese. Because they
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: make money off of it. The one-person system might sustain
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: the hospital sector, especially in the rural community. But the
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: biggest loser in it, which that's why it's going to
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: be a dogfight, is the insurance company. The insurance company
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: keeps getting larger, and so does the hospital sector. The
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: people that suffer from the decisions are the health departments
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: and the community health centers, which are the safety net. See,
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: right now, if you think about it on a commercial side,
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: that's where the money is being made for insurance. And
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: if you look at the data for hospitals, every hospital
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: charges a different amount for a service. Every insurance company
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: pays a different amount. The healthcare system is set up
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: as for-profit, not for a nonprofit. So somebody's bottom line
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: will be impacted.
• 47:06
  Speaker 4: But if we've got.
• 47:06
  Speaker 3: All of our people covered and if the decisions about
• 47:14
  Speaker 3: care were not in the hands of the insurance company,
• 47:19
  Speaker 3: which now you know they have prior authorization and they
• 47:24
  Speaker 3: can approve or deny payment, which denial of payment often
• 47:29
  Speaker 3: means that the person does not get the care because
• 47:34
  Speaker 3: how expensive it is now in our country is that
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: there's hardly anyone who has the money to pay the prices.
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: You know, the way it could work would be the
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: government funded solely. And we take all the money that
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: we spend for wars and we spend for overseas aid
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: and we put it in to take care of our
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: citizens first. That's how we survive.
• 48:08
  Speaker 4: Well, that's certainly an idea.
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, if we talk about every year, we don't
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: have the money we showed on the budget. But if
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: you look at how we spend, and years ago, I
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: had a chance when I was president for Nature Board,
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: owner board, to talk to the OMB.
• 48:32
  Speaker 3: And they said- That's the Office of Management and Budget?
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for the government. And my question to them was,
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: How can we change the budget? And they mentioned to me,
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: we can't. We have spent money for decades the same way.
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: The budget is built the same way. Every time. Depending
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: on what issue is critical, you might see some adjustments
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: left or right, but not in this totality.
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: That's absolutely true. And the last study on healthcare or
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: Medicare for all was done in 2020. And the study
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: showed that we could actually save money on healthcare by
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: going to a single payer system or Medicare for all.
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: Totally ignored by our Congress because again, Their priority is
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: placating the big insurance companies and big pharma. So this
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: is a problem that I see it as it's very simple.
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: It's the fact that we know what the people want
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: and these legislators work for us, but less and less
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: are we being listened to in our voice and they're
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: listening to big money, the billionaire class. All of these
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: things we're talking about, they're all just policy decisions, right?
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: And so how do we affect that change? That's the
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: big question. Yeah, right.
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: We know the argument is we're spending too much on Medicaid.
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: But the problem is we're not spending enough. Just like
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: if you don't build a healthy community, The overall system
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: pays the brunt of it. If you don't provide health
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: care coverage to everybody, when they show up at the hospital,
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: they will be sicker and it costs us more. So
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: we are an actionary country. Instead of providing every city
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: healthy water, healthy food, great outdoor parks, great places for
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: people to exercise, less violence, Great education. U.S. has created
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: the greatest criminals on earth by not providing essential services
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: they need to grow and opportunities to be healthy. I
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: don't think anybody in this country set out to be
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: a criminal unless they have ill intent. Anyway, they're doing
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: it for money. Right? Now, this is not people committing murder.
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: We're talking about people that are committing crimes to selling drugs,
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: to stealing. Some people steal for poverty reasons. We're trying
• 51:52
  Speaker 2: to solve the issue of people not thinking they can
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: get ahead in life. So the reason that during COVID
• 52:01
  Speaker 2: we saw a large number of protests, well, COVID wasn't
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: about the protests. You were thinking about overall, people were
• 52:12
  Speaker 2: fed up with poverty. They were fed up with the
• 52:16
  Speaker 2: violence from police. They were fed up with the economic sufferings.
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: So right now, in France, there are protests in the
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: streets talking about high gas prices. Talking about it's harder
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: to eat healthy. They can't buy these central things. If
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: we stop providing Medicaid or making any type of insurance affordable.
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: People are going to miss doctor's appointments. They're going to
• 52:47
  Speaker 2: miss any type of treatment. They get no dental care.
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: It costs us billions of dollars per year to treat people,
• 52:58
  Speaker 2: where prevention can save people. So it's the same premise.
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: If we don't put, we would put 1% of our
• 53:06
  Speaker 2: budget every year toward prevention. 1% goes to public health.
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: The rest of it goes to everything else. So our
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: system will continue to crumble and the people that at
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: the bottom will continue to suffer. We don't change.
• 53:25
  Speaker 3: But you know, we have a healthcare system where the
• 53:30
  Speaker 3: insurance industry has been all powerful in terms of setting
• 53:37
  Speaker 3: the parameters and the directions. So the insurance industry sees
• 53:46
  Speaker 3: that people overuse healthcare. That's not true, but that's how
• 53:51
  Speaker 3: they see it. So therefore they put in barriers like
• 53:59
  Speaker 3: co-pays and deductibles and prior authorizations Because in their book,
• 54:07
  Speaker 3: when they have to pay out the money for care,
• 54:10
  Speaker 3: they make less profit.
• 54:12
  Speaker 2: Correct.
• 54:13
  Speaker 4: For us, as.
• 54:15
  Speaker 3: The public and as the patients, the barriers are all
• 54:20
  Speaker 3: wrong because they impede the preventive care and that would
• 54:27
  Speaker 3: be humane.
• 54:29
  Speaker 4: For the people who are involved.
• 54:32
  Speaker 3: And in many instances would save them money and so
• 54:35
  Speaker 3: much suffering. Which is why we advocate the removal of
• 54:40
  Speaker 3: the insurance industry from our healthcare system. And we believe
• 54:47
  Speaker 3: that we should provide the funding for coverage for every
• 54:53
  Speaker 3: single person in the nation. And we should provide funding
• 54:57
  Speaker 3: for the infrastructure And indeed.
• 55:00
  Speaker 4: That's what.
• 55:02
  Speaker 3: HR 3069, it's a bill in the House of Representatives.
• 55:07
  Speaker 3: It will be reintroduced in the new year, but it
• 55:11
  Speaker 3: provides the funding for the infrastructure as well as coverage
• 55:16
  Speaker 3: for all of the people and removes the co-pays and
• 55:20
  Speaker 3: deductibles and the barriers.
• 55:22
  Speaker 4: And it won't solve everything.
• 55:25
  Speaker 2: No, it won't.
• 55:27
  Speaker 3: But we believe that it would be a humane start
• 55:31
  Speaker 3: to a better country and a better society and a
• 55:37
  Speaker 3: better way to take care of each other and to
• 55:41
  Speaker 3: remove the obstacles that are keeping us from getting care
• 55:49
  Speaker 3: to people. You know, we know people who they are
• 55:54
  Speaker 3: diagnosed with cancer and the cure at MD Anderson is
• 56:00
  Speaker 3: so great and the insurance company won't pay for it.
• 56:03
  Speaker 3: And they're left to die. We don't in this country
• 56:08
  Speaker 3: put people first. So that's what our advocacy is about.
• 56:13
  Speaker 3: And we appreciate all that you do in your field
• 56:20
  Speaker 3: to try to make it a healthy community. But I
• 56:24
  Speaker 3: think that the battle We need to make some changes
• 56:28
  Speaker 3: at the federal level that will secure the funding for
• 56:33
  Speaker 3: the care that we need in order to make it
• 56:37
  Speaker 3: possible for people like yourself.
• 56:39
  Speaker 4: To do that work.
• 56:42
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you for saying that. I would just say,
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: you know, first of all, you know, people have been
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: brought into the and ability to fulfill that. The basic
• 57:02
  Speaker 2: foundation that is missing in the country is love. And
• 57:09
  Speaker 2: so if you love a person, you love that neighbor,
• 57:14
  Speaker 2: you truly love people, then you will take care of people.
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: And that's the lens that should be for every leader,
• 57:23
  Speaker 2: for every person. but that's the lens there should be
• 57:26
  Speaker 2: in any White House. Take care of people. That's the job.
• 57:36
  Speaker 3: Well, you expressed that well, and we certainly appreciate that.
• 57:43
  Speaker 4: You do this work.
• 57:44
  Speaker 3: I know when we saw you at the Medicaid listening tour,
• 57:49
  Speaker 3: you were impressive in terms of one of the people
• 57:52
  Speaker 3: who spoke to the issues beyond just the Medicaid cuts,
• 57:58
  Speaker 3: but the overall situation in which we are struggling to
• 58:04
  Speaker 3: fund the care that people need and to make it
• 58:08
  Speaker 3: possible to build a healthy life. So we thank you
• 58:12
  Speaker 3: so much. And to our listening audience, Dr. Jett is
• 58:16
  Speaker 3: pictured on our website at kyhealthcare.org. You can go there
• 58:23
  Speaker 3: and See his photo and the story about the Medicaid
• 58:27
  Speaker 3: listening tour.
• 58:29
  Speaker 4: And I'll turn this back over to Paul.
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: Again, thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoyed today's show.
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: And also, a final reminder to get out and vote.
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: Vote early if you can, or certainly vote on November 3rd.
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: Have a wonderful rest of your day.