Fran Quigley

Fran Quigley directs the Health and Human Rights Clinic at Indiana University McKinney School of Law.

 

Articles by this author

While two of every three Americans support unions and half of them would join a union if they had a chance, only 15% of American workers were union members in 2020. (Photo: Shutterstock) Views
Friday, April 02, 2021
Religious Groups Support Worker-Protecting PRO Act
Multiple religious groups from different faith traditions last month co-authored a letter to members of Congress urging swift passage of the PRO (Protecting the Right to Organize) Act, which would ensure workers' rights to organize into unions and collectively bargain for fair pay and working...
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Fulfilling Jesus' mandate could not be achieved by mere charity, Vida Dutton Scudder insisted, pushing back against some congregations' go-to response to poverty. Instead, she worked for a full restructuring of society around socialist principles. (Image: Vida Dutton Scudder, Circa 1890, Unknown Photographer, Public Domain, retrieved from Wiki­media Commons) Views
Saturday, March 27, 2021
Celebrating Women Leaders of the Religious Socialism Movement
Women's History Month is a perfect opportunity to celebrate the women who paved the way for our current women leaders who have found socialist principles in their religious traditions, including U.S. Congresswomen and Democratic Socialists of America members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Roman...
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Wilkes wants to call people to socialism just as he calls people to Jesus. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Views
Friday, October 30, 2020
The Socialist Preacher
Andrew Wilkes’ epiphany had been coming for a long time. When he was only 15 years old, and multiple knee injuries derailed his hopes for an NBA career, he began contemplating a life in the pulpit. After several months of study and prayer, in the midst of a worship service at Zion Hill Baptist...
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"Kassem continues her work building support for Medicare for All, especially in communities of color that make up 59% of the nation’s uninsured," writes Quigley. (Photo: Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters) Views
Thursday, September 03, 2020
Medicare for All Advocate Finds Universal Healthcare Mandates in Islam
Believe it or not, election night in November 2016 gave Hebah Kassem hope for progressive political change in our country. Of course, that was the night Donald Trump was elected president, even carrying Kassem’s home state of Michigan in the process. But the results were not all tragic. Kassem had...
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"Congress long ago created a 'Break Glass in Case of Emergency' box," explains Quigley. "It passed laws giving the federal government 'compulsory licensing' power. That means we can bypass the barriers of privately-held patents and allow the government to either directly manufacture the patented drugs or license someone else to manufacture them, usually with a limited fee paid to the patent-holder. That would guarantee we have the medicines we need at prices we can afford." (Image: Jon Sham/flickr/cc) Views
Wednesday, September 02, 2020
"Break Glass in Case of Emergency": We Must Break Pharma Monopolies to Lower Drug Prices
Imagine that a fire has started in your house. The builders of the house were wise enough to place a fire extinguisher within easy reach, in one of those glass-doored cases that says, “Break Glass in Case of Emergency.” A hammer is sitting right on top of the box. Now imagine that you look at the...
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Thursday, August 20, 2020
Reclaim Public Medicine for Public Health
Far too many people have suffered and died because our medicines and medical products system was not prepared to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic with prompt and universal access to reliable tests, treatments, and vaccines. Governments, non-profits, and industry in the U.S. and around the world are...
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Doctor holding N95 mask. (Photo: Via Shutterstock.) Views
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
"Every Healthcare Worker Is at Risk": A Physician Speaks Out on the Protective Equipment Shortage
Last week, Dr. Amy Hale’s schedule treating patients in the Columbus, Indiana Regional Health system included two shifts in special clinics set up to examine and treat persons with upper respiratory problems that could indicate infection with the COVID-19 virus. On Friday, she had a break from...
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The fear and dysfunction associated with the coronavirus pandemic are unspeakably horrible, but they could spur the U.S. to once and for all eliminate the for-profit infection that sickens our health care system. (Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Views
Monday, March 16, 2020
The Coronavirus Shows It is Time to Remove the For-Profit Infection from U.S. Health Care
Last week, I listened as several Indiana workers in the hospitality industry gathered in southeastern Indiana to talk about their health. A cook in her 60s shared how she had gone months without her asthma inhalers because she couldn’t afford them. During that period, she was taken to the hospital...
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Sunday, November 24, 2019
How to Win the Holiday Healthcare Debate With Your Conservative Relatives
We all know the scenario. The one relative we never see except for holiday family gatherings is holding forth, blasting on high volume political opinions delivered straight from Fox News. Let’s say it’s Uncle Joe at Thanksgiving dinner. He turns to you and says, “Please tell me you are not...
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One in four Americans with chronic illnesses say they are forced to skip filling prescriptions regularly due to cost. (Photo: StockMonkeys.com) Views
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Removing the Profit From Our Pills: The Case for a Public Pharma System
Any American who has paid the price of a patent-protected medicine knows the core flaw in the U.S. prescription drug system: our elected leaders have handed over control to profit-hungry corporations. And for-profit corporations gonna for-profit, as the kids would say. That is especially true when...
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