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Michael Lighty

Michael Lighty

Michael Lighty is president of Healthy California Now and a consultant with National Union of Healthcare Workers. He is a founding Fellow of the Sanders Institute, and worked for 25 years at California Nurses Association/NNU. 

Articles by this author

 
CAL-care

On What Just Happened to Medicare for All in California—and the Organizing We Need to Win

Why hasn't the overwhelming popularity of Medicare for All—85% of Democrats, 66% of independents and 52% (!) of GOP support it—translated into legislative majorities?

Michael Lighty ·

Jayapal outside the White House after meeting with Biden

Locked Out of the Sausage Factory: Will Medicare Expansion Survive the Budget Reconciliation Debates?

It's gut-check time, quite literally. And the Build Back Better Bill is gutted, House Democrats should vote down the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and hold out for a program that meets the needs of most voters.

Michael Lighty ·

Middle-income families save an average 9% of income; for example, a family earning $62,000 today paying $10,000 per year out of pocket would pay $930. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Nothing Less Than Improved Medicare for All

Now that we have the historic force of a united front in national Medicare for All legislation—HR 1384 and S. 1129—let’s review the bottom line

Michael Lighty ·

Very quickly, peace of mind will overwhelm that forgotten desire to keep your private insurance.(Photo: Joe Newman via Public Citizen/flickr/cc)

'Medicare for America' Will Not Get Us Where We Need to Be

The incremental approach to healthcare reform is an approach the nation can no longer afford. Only Medicare for All will do.

Michael Lighty ·

Concerning Medicare for All, It's Not a Time for "Can't"

Now is the moment for people arguing against a system that covers everyone while reducing overall costs to be quiet and enjoy some moments of reflection

Michael Lighty ·

"Those looking for a silver bullet—like an individual buy-into Medicare for those 55 and over, which relieves the insurers of having to cover their most expensive patients, and undermines the social insurance model of Medicare, or the Medicare Advantage model—only highlight how much existing Medicare is already privatized," writes Lighty. (Photo: © Greg Nash )

Now That Everybody Is for Medicare for All, Opponents Say Let’s Dilute It

Tweaks and fixes that leave the for-profit insurers intact won't work. Only a mass social movement can overcome the huge resource and political advantages of the medical-industrial complex

Michael Lighty ·

$3.5 Trillion overall, $10,739 per person, now exceeding 18% of GDP while providing worse outcomes, lower quality and shorter life expectancy than any other industrialized country. (Photo: Michael Fleshman/flickr/cc)

$3.5 Trillion on Healthcare Each Year and We’re Still Uninsured, Underinsured, and Unhappy

Our health is not a commodity to profit from, nor is it a welfare program to be minimized or privatized

Michael Lighty ·

A Labor-Based Movement For Medicare for All

A defensive posture and incremental demands have not worked. Let’s play offense instead.

Michael Lighty ·

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