Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20240713

Caucus, no candidate will theive support from culinary unit. We will go to las vegas to speak with allegra reporter and a member of the Culinary Union who besti have some of the health insnsurance a union membr can get, but i would change it today for medicare for all. A new study in the medical journal lancet shows medicare for all will save americans more than 450 billion and preventnt 68,000 deaths every year. A study was published by a group of epidemiologists from Yale University i medicare for all. This is not Bernie Sanders. Publishing. Scholars prestigious medical journal. We calculate that a Single Payer Universal Health Care system is savingso lead to a 13 and National Healthcare expenditure equivalent to more than 450 billion annually. Amy we will speak with the lead author of the report. Then Latinx Organization mijente gives its firstever presididential endorsement. This moment demands a historic mobilization. Our members agree ththe best pah to defefeating trump is e electg bernrnie. Amy we will speak with executive director of mijente marisa franco. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. President trump falsely called himself the chief Law Enforcement officer of the United States tuesday. This is trump speaking about the Justice Departments abrupt decision to withdraw an earlier sentencing recommendation for trumps close friend and former Campaign Adviser roger stone, who was found guilty of seven counts of lying to congress. Pres. Trump just how you understand, i chose not to be involved. Im allowed to be totally involved. I am actually, i guess, the chief Law Enforcement officer of the country. But i have chosen not to be involved was not amy the attorney general is the United States top Law Enforcement officer, not the president. Trumps claim comes as more than 2000 former Justice Department officials have now called on attorney general william barr to inign after he intervened stones sentencing. As a result, four federal prosecutors withdrew from the case, one resigning from his job actions. Over barrs the federal Judges Association is holding an emergency meeting today amid growing concerns about trumps intervention in the stone case and in the Justice Department overall. Roger stone will be sentenced thursday despite trump demanding a new trial. President trump issued a wave of pardons and commutations tuesday to a group of his political allies, circumventing the normal Justice Department process. Among the 11 people granted clemency tuesday were former illinois governor rod blagojevich, who had been jailed for attempting to sell Barack Obamas u. S. Senate seat, former new York Police Commissioner bernie kerik, who was convicted of tax fraud and lying to officials, and investment banker mike milken, who was convicted of securities fraud and conspiracy and was best known as the junk bond king. The clemency comes amid speculation trump might also try to pardon his longtime friend and former Campaign Adviser roger stone. Six democratic president ial candidates will debate tonight in nevada, only days before the states caucus saturday. Tonights debate is the first time former new york city mayor billionaire Michael Bloomberg will be on stage, although he is not on the ballot in nevada. Heading into tonights debate, vermont senator Bernie Sanders has surged to a large lead in a new National Washington postabc news poll, which now shows sanders with 32 support, followed by former Vice President joe biden who has only 16 support. Sanders has also doubled his support among black voters and is overwhelmingly the preferred candidate of voters under 50 years old. A separate poll by the Public Policy institute of california shows sanders with a considerable leading california with particularly favorable support among latino voters. This is sanders speaking in reno, nevada, tuesday. We are going to win this election not because we are buying the airwaves as mr. Bloomberg, we are going to win this election because we are putting together the strongest grassroots movement. Amy tonights debate comes as a newly resurfaced video shows mayor bloomberg calling for cuts to medicare and Social Security in an interview with cbs while he wasas new york city mayor. It is a way to slowly decrease the benefits or raise the eligibility age for medicare and for Social Security. There is a way to have marco pay on medicaid which will lead to things. One, the users of the service will pay a little bit more but they will think twice before they use services so the services they use will be those that are really needed and not stop that would be nice to have. Amy the resurfaced video comes as a new study published in the lancet finds that medicare for all will save americans more than 450 billion and prevent 68,000 deaths evevery year. Well have more on the lancet study and saturdays nevada caucus after headlines. In china, the death toll from the coronavirus has surpassed 2000 people with more than among i infected worldwide. The latest victims in china was the director of wuchang hospital in wuhan, china, who died after contracting the coronavirus. About 800 passengers of the quarantined cruise ship the diamond princess were allowed to disembark to japan today. Thousands more remain trapped on the cruise ship, where over 600 people have tetested positive fr the virus. In afghanistan, prpresident asaf ghani i has been dececlared the winner o of last yearrs prpresident ial election after te results were delayed for five months. But ghanis main opponent, abdullah abdullah, has also declared himself the winnener ad says he will form a parallel government. The political chaos comes amid breakthroughs in the peace negotiations between the u. S. And the taliban, with a peace plan expected to be announced in the coming days. In cameroon, the United Nations says at least 22 people were killed, including 14 children, inin a massacre friday in the anglophone region of the country. An Opposition Party has blamed the killings on the army, which the army denied. The massacre comes amid a conflict between the Cameroon Army and englishspeaking separatist fighters, which has killed thousands of people and has forced more than half a million civilians to flee their homes. Somali broadcast journalist Abdiwali Ali Hassan was shot and killed by gunmen near his home outside somalias capital, mogadishu, earlier this week. He was a freelance correspondent for the londonbased universal tv and local radio kulmiye. No group has claimed responsibility foror his assassination. And in north carolina, an Appeals Court has temporarily blocked the state from using its voter identification law in elections after ruling the policy was enacted by the republicancontrololled state legislature in 2018 specifically to discriminate against African American voters. The ruling is the latest battle against discriminatory voter id laws in north carolina. An earlier version of the states voter id laws was thrown out after a federal judge said the law targeted African Americans with almost surgical precision. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and im juan gonzalez. Welclcome to all of our listenes and viewers from around the country and around the world. We begin todays show in nevada, where the third statate president ial primary vote takes place, the nevada caucus Company Early voting ended tuesday, and saturday. Polling stations reported long lines with more than 36,000 residents of the state opting to vote early. Amid growing fears the vote counting debacle in the iowa caucus could be repeated, the chair of the Nevada Democratic party has said they will not be using the same vote reporting app or vendor and have developed backup reporting systems. Nevada is the first state in the west to cast its vote in the democratic race for the president ial nomination and alao the first diverse e state to bee heard from so far. Onone of the states most covetd endorsements is from the Culinary Workers Union, which represents some 60,000 workers in the restaurant and Hospitality Industries in las vegas and reno. Its membership is 54 latino. Last week they decided not to endorse any of the candidates. This is geoconda arguellokline, secretary treasurer of the Culinary Workers Union, speaking thursday outside the unions headquarters in las vegas. The official announcement is were going to endorse our goals, what were doing. That is what were going to endorse. Youre not going to endorse a candidate, a political candidate. Amy nevada is a socalled right to work state and the Culinary Workers Union has attracted members by offering them health care. It says it supports choices in health care. Mobilization of Service Employees could be critical to winning the nevada caucuses, so the unions lack of endorsement for any candidate could be a setback for former Vice President joe biden and an opening for moderate candidates like Pete Buttigieg and amy klobuchar. The culintary Workers Union also decided not to endorse a racedate in the 2016 during the primary race between sasanders and hillary clinton. More, we go to las vegas where four were joined by two guests. Marcie wells is an activist, waitress, single parent, and a member of the Culinary Workers Union local 226 in nevada for 16 years. She wrote an essay for commondreams titled i have some of the best Health Insurance a union member can get, but i would trade it today for medicare for all. Also with us is hamilton nolan, labor reporter for in these times. Welcome both of you to democracy now hamilton, give us a lay of the land in nevada, why the Culinary Workers Union is so significant and the story of the health care they provide and why they have chosen not to support medicare for all. The Culinary Workers Union is one of the best unions in america, no doubt about it. There are about 60,000 members. Unionizedsuccessfully the Casino Industry in las vegas, and there really a role model for building power in a single industry for unions and for elevating people in to the middle class that otherwise would not have been able to have middleclass jobs. So they are a great union. They run their own health care center. Health care is a big benefit of being in the Culinary Workers Union. I think that is the reality that is running up against the issue of medicare for all in these primaries. And the idealism of medicare for all that a lot of people in the Democratic Party and in the world of organized labor would like to see is running up against unions that do run their own health care and use that as a benefit to help attract workers, especially in a right to work state like nevada where it can be harder to attract and maintain numbers. Course, hamilton, that issue runs up against the reality that unless youre going to be a member of the Culinary Workers Union foror life and ner leaves you go to another job, that you will have Health Insurance but obviously, if you move to some other occupation, face the reality that the health care you get may not be for the Health Insurance you have may not be may be far inferior. Do you know what the debate has been, your sins within the union, on this issue . There definitely is a debate. There is a debate not only within the Culinary Workers Union, but within the union world at large and within every major union inpeople who have nn contracts, they will tell you if unions do not have to bargain over health care, they would have so much more Political Capital to use to make other gains for workers wages, and things like that. In a big picture sense, i think medicare for all would be a great thing for unions and for organized labor. It is sort of this transition period where you have all of these different unions that have their own Health Care Plans that they have expended a lot of Political Capital on over the years, and they are extremely nervous, i think im about the bridge between what we have now and what medicare for all would be. Faithl require a leap of on the half of the desk behalf of the Culinary Union workers and organized labor as a whole. Amy marcie wells, you are with local 226 in nevada and have been a p Proud Union Member for Something Like 16 years. Tell us your story. What kind of health care you have. How does the Health Care Work go down to union hall, sign up for the health care at the beginning and join the union at the same time . Absolutely. Specifically for the place i work, it was being opened when everyone started when i started. It was automatically union. So signing up for the union get to the health care. You do have to work 360 hours to qualify for the health care. So if youre just starting out as a steady extra or something along those lines, you have to meet minimum requirements. Once you meet those requirements, you have to work 240 hours within a two month period or you do not qualify. In that case, for each hour you are short, can pay five dollars per hour to keep your insurance. So that is kind of how the insurance works. It is not exactly free. For someone like me, i suffer with chronic illness. There are flares and moments when i cant work. In addition to that, there are moments when im not able to get into the specialist i need to see in a timely manner so i end up missing a lot of work, not qualifying for the insurance, and sort of not even having the resources from work to pay for that insurance. But for someone with chronic illnesses, it is not really the best insurance. Do have fulln you coverage, what are some of the copays or the requirements outofpocket for workers . Are there any . To theoure going Culinary Health center, there are not copays. At the same time, there are not any specialist there. A person like me would have to go outside that location. It is 15 for regular doctor visit 20 to 30 per specialist visit. If i need an mri, which i do frequently, it is 125 each time. Is 150. There are outofpocket costs, just like with any other private insurance because that is what it is, private insurance. Amy talked about the debate within your union about whether to endorse medicare for all and how your coworkers feel. Well, i would not even say it is much of the debate as it relates to coworkers, especially for people that have been working in the industry for a long time. We have this sort of local lure about Culinary Union and good insurance, but also the idea that these golden handcuffs that sort of keep you tethered to an industry that you may not be physically or emotionally invested in anymore and theres not really a way out. So the debate is more centered around democracy and people feeling like their voices are not being heard by the union that represents them. We are paying dues at the same Time Culinary has a political pact that a lot of us donate money to. It is kind of disheartening to get to this moment and see that we are not being heard and we are also being intentionally or unintentionally misled. Because for everyone that is a person that looks like me in america, are more likely to be uninsured than someone who is white or asian. And that is not any different here in nevada, so it is kind of sad to think that in nevada you will only be protected under the umbrella of the Culinary Union. We happens and family here that are not in the union. It sort of projects this false image of elitism and a workingclass town. 1 the union in the past has mobilized members to participate in caucuses, if im not mistaken, some caucusers were even held on the grounds of some of the hotels . What has been the mobilization effort to get out members to vote, even if the unit is not endorsing any candidate this time around . Same as any Political Organization depressed that side is more politically based. Halls withre town each candidate, text messages, just reaching out to get members to participate in the process and to influence members on which way to vote as it relates to how a person could benefit the Culinary Union as a whole. So they sort of give an overview of good for union bad for union, then let the workers do the rest. There are strict caucus locations for people that work day shifts so you dont have to miss out or leave work. They are right inside the hotels, so that is very convenient. Yeah, i was at this time around there is a lot of attention on caucusing and a lot of attention on medicare for all. In the culinary question is messages, we dont want medicare for all. But membership is, we want medicare for all. Amy you wrote in your essay that last november you attended a Bernie Sanders town hall held by the union in las vegas. Tell us what you saw. General, it was great. Bernie was getting great reception from the crowd. Then when the questionandanswer portion happened, a little chaos erupted and people started heckling, chanting union health care. Paidzy people i did see organizers in the middle of those chants. In addition to the questions that were asked, were not random. I dont think i would ever get an opportunity to stand up and ask a question because they are kind of staged, if you will, preselected and the people that are going to ask them are also preselected. Amy so hamilton nolan, can you talk about what the nonendorsement means . Do you think ultimately lost here . Of course, you have bernie who endorses medicare for all, and then you have Vice President biden w who also did not get the endorsement and doesnt support medicare for all. It is interesting. There are a lot of competing theories. I have heard a lot of rumors about this. In one sense, Bernie Sanders did lose because i think he would make the argument that he is the candidate, the strongest candidate for organized labor. So the fact he did not get the culinary workers endorsement you could say is a loss for him. On the other hand, there were rumors flying when last week when the union put out the flyer that kind of dinged bernie come everybody y started talking abot who they were going to endorse, are they going to endorse pete or biden or warren . All of those candidates who did not win iowa and New Hampshire would like to get that endorsement because it is seen as a role pathway to winning nevada. I think the fact the union did not endorse anyone may be a bit of a signal that they look at the polls and not about the fact that they dont want to endorse somebody in nevada who does that when nevada. Because if the union were to come out and endorse a candidate that did not win, it makes the union look weak and that did happen in 2008, i believe, they endorsed obama and he did not win nevada. That is not something the Culinary Union wants to do. A lot of people i spoke to saw the nonendorsement as sort of a tacit acknowledgment that Bernie Sanders looking very strong in nevada and they decided to stay out of it. Juan hamilton, the issue that some of the leaders of the Culinary Workers Union raised threats bysment and Bernie Sanders supporters that they received afterward . Do you get a since this is having any impact on how people will vote . I know Bernie Sanders to come out with a statement saying that that is not what his supporters should be doing, but he did not really come down hard on his people and tell them to stop it. I think it goes to the core issue that Bernie Sanders does not control everybody on twitter. I have been writing on the internet for 10 years, and i can tell you every time i write something or Say Something on the internet, there is a thousand people who call me an idiot. It happens on the internet. The fact that people are saying mean things on twitter i think is not necessarily an issue for the Bernie Sanders campaign per se. You saw Mike Bloomberg put out an attack ad recently just pulling things that people had set on twitter, mean things. It is clear that campaigns are trying to make this an issue, but i think if we are being fair , you cant really hold a campaign responsible for something that random people are saying on twitter. Amy i wanted to go to the issue of mayor bloomberg, but were going to go to break and come back to this discussion. We are speaking right now with hamilton nolan, who is a labor reporter with in these times. And mamarcie wells with the Culinary Workers Union local 226 in nevada, where the caucus will take place on saturdayay. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. As we continue to look at the race, particularly looking at Michael Bloomberg running for mayor in new york city. He equated a coveted endorsement from the United Federation of teachers to the kiss of death. , ient on to say in this dont know what goes through voters minds, but maybe they understand if the uft wants it, it aint good and you dont want that person. We are staying with hamilton timesthe in these labor reporter. Hamilton, can you talk about this larger union issue and the billionaire president ial candidate Michael Bloomberg who will take the stage in the debate president ial primary debate stage for the first time in las vegas . It is very striking having bloomberg jump into the race because going into the 2020 race, i think you could make a really good argument that it was the most promising electionyear for organized labor in a long time. The president was weak. Theres a big democratic field, so unions had a lot of candidates to choose from. The president ial candidates all really competed very strongly for union endorsements. They all put out labor plans that are far more progressive than anything we have seen in recent u. S. History. So unions i think are wellpositioned. And now you have this megamillionaire jumping into the race and Mike Bloomberg, as you pointed out, is not wellliked by unions, especially in new york. Unions that dealt with him when he was the mayor of new york. It is fair to say he is not a great friend of unions, not super popular with unions that have dealt with him. So it is this wild card in the race. It is almost like a cartoon battle now in the democratic primary, especially if Bernie Sanders ends up being the leading candidate as he is now. If he keeps up with that and bloomberg buys his way to the race, have such a strong contrast of visions for the Democratic Party and organized labor between our people going are people going to back the money or are they going to back the socialist . Was it wasnt just that he in strong opposition to organize labor, i think many of the unions when he left office had not been able to get a contract for up to five years because the mayor refused to grant them any. But in a broader sense, he not and apposed 15 an hour raise in the minimum wage, he opposed any raise in the minimum when it opposed sickly was passed in new york city. So many of the issues go beyond just organize unions, but have an impact on working people in general. He is on the side the Democratic Party has left, supposedly, because most of the candidates, president ial candidates, support these issues. Absolutely. Remember, Mike Bloomberg was a republican not that long ago. Bloomberg heart, mike probably still is a republican in manygoverning record areas obviously, he has issues like Climate Change and gun control he touts that he has been progressive on, but many areas, he governed like a republican. It is kind of shocking to see Mike Bloomberg decides to run for president and issue a press release and say, by the way, i wawas wrong about stop and fris, for example, when he spent years and years and years depending this policy in new york when he was in control. Again, i guess the analytical thing to say is, it will be a test of how credulous voters are when he says that he has changed his heart on all of these various issues compared to what you look at his actual record is. Amy hamilton nolan, have reported on the International Brotherhood of electrical workers announcement that it is endorsing joe biden for president. It was his biggest endorsement so far. Then nearly 1300 ibew members who support Bernie Sanders sent a letter to Union Membership asking them to retract that decision. The letter from ibew members for bernie blasts the unions leadership for endorsing biden without a vote of members and says in part, we are disappointed that the international has instead thrown their weight behind the Biden Campaign without member consultation and says they support sanders transformative vision for expanding the labor movement, as well as the democracy and the solidarity that his campaign embodies. Talk about the significance of this and what you think will happen with the ibew. There are really two issues here. The first is kind of the split between progressives and leftists within organize labor and moderates and centrists, the establishment of organized labor. Joe biden obviously has some stronger connections to what you would consnsider too be the moderate factions of organized labor. He was endorsed by the firefighters and the ironworkers and by the ibew, more than 700,000 membersrs. And all of thesese unions have factions within them that are far more progressive probably than the union leadership. In the case of the ibew, what you saw was these bernie supporters within the unit put together a letter with a huge amount 1300 names of Union Members and the point they made was not just say want the unit to endorsed bernie, which is not what they asked for. What they asked for was a vote of the members to the endorsement. That is the second issue, you need democracy. I think theres is a fair argument to be made that labor union making a political endorsement that is not based on a vote of the members is, to a certain extent, meaningless because it really just means the head of that labor union that is their preferred candidate. If you have a union like the ibew was 7000 to 8000 members and you have not done a vote of the members, what does the endorsement really mean . That is what youre saying within the ibew. I can tell you the very same thing is happening within other unions that have issued endorsrsements that the memberso not like as well. Amy marcie wells, this is the first diverse state that the primary and caucus is taking place in, two of the whitest states iowa and New Hampshire now done, then it goes from nevada on saturday down to south carolina. The significance of this . Is it willificance be sort of a test of both the strategies that have been enacted by unions and everyone else and sort of how much people have been paying attention as individuals. We need to start recognizing the policies that help diverse populations. It is pretty clear medicare for all is one of us policies that would sort of represent the freedom that a lot of people have been looking for for along time. Amy we want to thank you both for being with us. Marcie wells, member of the Culinary Workers Union local 226 in nevada. And thank you to hamilton nolan labor reporter for in these , times. Both speaking to us from las vegas, nevada. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Juan as the democratic president ial hopefuls prepare to take to the debate stage tonight, we turn to a central issue of the campaign medicare for all. In a new study, yale scholars have found that medicare for all will save americans 450 billion and prevent 68,000 deaths every year. The study in the lancet one of the oldest and most prestigious peerreviewed medical journals found that medicare for all, supported by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, will save money and is more costeffective than medicare for all who want it, a model supported by Pete Buttigieg. Sanders referenced the study at a Campaign Rally in carson citi, nevavada. A study was published by a group of epidemiologist from Yell University on medicare for all. This is not Bernie Sanders, this publishing ands a prestigious medical journal. This is what they said in that article, taking into account both the cost of coverage expansion in other words, the medicare for all poor people are going to get the health care they need and the savavings that would be achieved through the medicare for all act, we calculate that a singlepayer universal Health Care System is 13 savingsad to a and National Health care expenditure equivalent to more than 450 billion annually. In other words, if we end the profiteering of the Insurance Companies and the Drug Companies and d they made 100 billllion n profits last year,r, if we end e absurdity of havining thousandsf didifferent healthth care plalad the hundreds of f billions it takes to administer these thousands of plans, all of you have had the expense of getting on the phone i going with an insurance company. You got your covered and theyre telling you, are paying for the other guy at the end of the line he was telling you youre not covered when you pay for it and you thought you were covered. We canan say 500 billion a year by ending the administration nightmare that currently exists and health care. Amy that was Bernie Sanders. For more, we got a new haven, connecticut, where we are joined by alison galvani, director of the center for Infectious Disease modeling and analysis at yales school of public health. She is the lead author of the new lancet study improving the prognosis of health care in the usa. Thank you so much for being with us. If you could start off by recent running to the way in this country wewe certainly see it in all of the debates with the moderators asking come is medicare for all going to increase taxes as opposed to the overall cost of health c care . Y out what you foundnd. On the one hand, medicare for all will increase taxaxes for households and employers. I think the important point isis that overall, it will reduce cost for both the taxpayer, householdsds, as well as t the ememoyerer. Because it will eliminatate the even higher cost of health care andiums paid by indivividuals employers. It will also eliminate pharmaceutical prices, deductibles, copays, and all of these other fees. Biden,n terms of joe Vice President joe biden has said repeatedly that medicare for all would cost more than the entire federal budget. Could you respond to that . Found that medicare 450ll would save over billion comompared to what the country is paying now. So rightht now the u. S. Is payig more than any other country for health care, yet we dont even 34 Key Public Health measures including infant mortality and overall Life Expectancy. Overe same time, there is 80 Million People without adequate Health Insurance. Either without any Health Insurance or without Health Insurance that they can afford. Actmedicare for all identifies a number of ways in which it is going to save the country money. Firstly, what people pay right now for Hospital Services doesnt correlate with their outcomes, their political outcomes, and it varies widely. So by apppplying medicare rateso the entire country, that will save us 100 billion right there. Another important point is that medicare for all will minimize paperwork and w will streamline administration and billing. So currently, medicare has an overhead of 2. 2 , whereas private insurance is over 12 . So applying medicare overhead to the entire country will save us 200 billion. Amy lets go medicicare for all sorry,o ahead. Amy i want to go to democratic president ial hopeful Pete Buttigieg speaking during the New Hampshire debate earlier this month. He says he supports medicare for all who want it. Here is now a Majority Ready to act to make sure there is no such thing as an uninsured american and no such thing as an unaffordable prescription. Just so long as we e dont t cod people to accept a public plan if they dont want to. That is the idea of medicare for all who want it. What i am offering is campaigning for all o of these things that america wants. Amy so that is Pete Buttigieg. ,an you tell us what you found if you understand what he means medicare for all whoho want it, and what that would cost . Sure. I just analyzed in detail medicare for all. If we strip away the savings identified in medicare for all, and expanded health care to the medicare for all who want it plan, we would stillll have allf these private entities and we would be continuing the inefficiencies that makes our Health Care System so expensive. Supportne hand, i would the Offering Health care to everyone in the countntry. That is paramount. On the other hand, medicare for good, butat it sounds it is a very expensive way to achieve it rather than the singlepayer plan that is being proposed in the medicare for all act. Juan could you talk about your projectition that about 68,000 unnecessary deaths per year would be avoided by going to medicare for all . How did you u get that calculation . Sure. People without Health Insurance, they tend to have mortality rarates that are four times higr than people who have adequate Health Insurance. So we looked at the number of people in each age cohort who dont have Health Insurance and said, ok, if we can reduce their mortality rate to be in line with people that do have health save e, then wewe would conservatively save 60,000. That is 68,000 compared to statatus quo. When we compare with access prior to the enactment of the Affordable Care act, it is 107,000. Affordable care act, it is 107,000. This is a conservative estimate and that we did not even look at we focused on the 40 million that have no Health Insurance. There is another 40 million in american that have inAdequate Health care. Those people, the people with Adequate Health care would also receive full Health Insurance with medicare for all so the 60,000 is actually a very conservative number. Amy what you say to the candidate to say, you are hurting people who have health care when you switch them to medicare for all . . Of coursrse, youre helping peoe who are not insured that would then be overall insured. The premise of the first part of that statemement i think is a pervasive misconception. Have more choice. Everyone would have more choice. With medicare for all, there would be noticed tension between outofnetwork and in netwtwork barriers. Not t only would you be able to keep your doctor, if theres a different doctor you preferred, would be able to switch. What surprised you mostt about this study that you did . What didnt you expect to find . Actctl, the Affordable Care has already saved many peoples lives. That has been quantified. Thes surprised that medicare for all act could save almost double again that is conservative almost double as ny people as have already been saved byby the Affordable Act on top of the benefits that have been achieved by the Affordable Care act. Juan and there are critics who say a Bernie Sanders come elizabethwarren prosperous medicare for all proposal, this is not possible in america, this is in denmark or sweden. What is your response that . I think it is absolutely possible. In fact, medicare system gives us a realworld testify ability. It succeeded for 5 54 years, so more than half a cenentury. It has high popularity, bipartisan popularity. And if medicare can succeed in theage cohort that is elderly, 65 andd above who a acs health care most often, if it can succeed in that age cohort, it is all the more feasible and costeffective to be offered to everyone. Amy and what about the fact that most people in ththis couny do not realize we are so alone in the industrialized world when it comes to providing health care for our population . We absolutely are. Virtually every other industrialized country and many that are lower and middle Income Countries offer ununiversal heah care. For instance, costa rica has a per capita gdp that is about 1 5 hours per capita. And they have universal health care. For the last 30 years, that had a higher Life Expectancy than the u. S. Amy how has the campaigns responded to what you had to say . Certainly, senator sandersrs has repeatedly talked about this study. How has, for example, the bidn campaign andnd others . Im not awarare of respons. There may have bent response, but i am not aware of it. Juan you have taken the step of making publicly available your calculations so that others who want to question or delve deeper into your analysis, where is that available . Available through our tool called shift. It is an open access, readily available tool in which users can adjust the parameters and taylor financing plan. That is available at shift. Sigma. Us. So i e encourage members of the public, congresess, president ial candidates even, to try it out. You can adjust your assumptions if theres a particular assumption you think is too optimistic, youre welcome to wouldldt and see how you financnce it. Many options. If finally, alalison galvani, you can talk about being in academia, you are there at the yale school for public health, the amount of money that goes into studies frorom the pharmaceutical, the insurance industry, that skews what is look at and what the results are . Your study here isis extremely significant and unusual. I am m not familiar with hohw much the s spending on studies i do know publicly available that lobbying and Campaign Works theis, well, it rest of the industry. Rest of the industry. Pharmaceutical companies are spending more than any other industry and the second is insurance. Fossil fuels are tiny fractions of how much are spent by those two industries. Amy thank you for being with us alison galvani, director of the , center for Infectious Disease modeling and analysis at yales school of public health. We will into your study improving the prognosis of health care in the usa. When we come back, the latinx group mijente endorses a candidate for the first time in its history. [music break] amy this is democracy now , im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan in its firstever president ial endorsement, the latinx and chicanx organization mijente endorsed Bernie Sanders on tuesday, ahead of the nevada caucuses. The group tweeted its decision, saying we know that in 2020, trumps potential reelection is a lifeordeath threat for us, for our people, and for our planet. This moment demands a historic mobilization. Thats why mijente is uniting with the movement to elect Bernie Sanders. A video accompanied the announcement. This moment demands a historic mobilization. Our members agree it is uniting withth a movement to elect bern. Bernie sanders is the best candidate because he will has been a candidate that speaeaks to workingclass communities of all backgrounds. C changebest climate proposal. He i is the candidate e who bels all stududent loan debt should e canceled. He is the c candidate w who bels in all of us having the right to vote, even those who are incarcerated. Close he is realistic in the way the system was set up and the way the system works. I do believe shifting the administration will definitely create a space where we can push for Higher Quality of lifife for mijente. Mijente is proud to endorse Bernie Sanders. Amy after the contests in iowa and New Hampshire, where the electorate is overwhelmingly white, nevada is the first election with a diverse population. Nevadas population is nearly 30 hispanic or latino and 10 black, and according to entrance polls, nearly onethird of voters in the Nevada Democratic caucuses in 2016 were either black or latino. Well, for more, were going back to las vegas, nevada, where we are joined by marisa franco, director of mijente. We will go to her in a moment. Harvest ofur book empire, you look at the population from latin america coming north. Can you talk about nevadas increasing latino populatation n the power of its voting block . The latino population has been g going across the country but especially in the southwest especially states like nevada, arizona, texas, california. To understandink about the key vote in general is it has been much more involved in recent years. Forbeen updating instance, in the 2010 congressional elections, there were 11. 7 million latinos that voted. That is almost double the number that voted in the previous midterm elections. So you are saying in a number you normas surge. There are now more than 3 million latino citizens who turned 18 since President Trump was elected. Listen to that carefully. 3 million latino citizens who turned 18 since President Trump was elected in 2016. That is in a normas potential group to register and vote that was not even eligible to vote back in 2016. So i think the important thing to understand is the explosive growth of the latino communities is going to continue for years to come, and this election, just as in the 2018 election, is going to be a reflection of that. Amy we are joining right now with marisa franco, director of mijente, which just endorsed given its first president ial endorsement. Marisa franco, welcome to democracy now can you talk about your choice of Bernie Sanders and what was your membership offer . What was the boat . Good morning. We went through a process with our membership that included an analysis, interviews with the candidates, and an internal debate. We felt it was important as an organization come as a community not to sit in the sidelines in the 2020 election. Theink with the promise of Sanders Campaign is, the idea thatat we would be electing someonone we understand we are picking our target. We know theres not one candidate who is going to come in and fix everything for us, but when it comes to consistency of message, Bernie Sanders is it. Backont have so you look six months or nine months for this all or ththat pole and physicians change. He has been fairly consistent. And we want a candidate and we want a president who will fight like how life we will, and that is what t we intend to do. Choice they could to Elizabeth Warren Bernie Sanders, to a joint endorsement as well . That is right. I think one of the great things about this primary is i do believe we have had real options and that is for progressives, for radicals that is often not the case. Our membership essentially was choosing between four different political positions. A no endorsement, standalone endorsement percent are sanders senator sanders, standalone a jointtor warren, or norsemen. And because a lot of people sanders, whatie you think . Close i think it is a baldfaced lie. When you look at the support for sanders, it cuts across race and region and class. It cuts across a generation using particular with young people, you know, young people of all races and ethnic cities are supporting senator sanders i think he has the ability to really bring together and workingclass Multiracial Coalition that can take on donald trump. I think he gives the clearest alternative donald trump, when he one was saying something is wrong in this country, heres why. It is this persons fault, this groups fault, that principle. Bernie sanders gives declares alternative to that and gives an actual narrative and solution that i think and speak to millions of people and that is why we endorsed him. And commerce are franco, thank you for being with us, director of mijente. That d does it for our so. A fit juan today we want to celebrate democracy now s 24th birthday. Thats 24 years covering the movements changing america and the world. Amy a huge thank you to all the people who have made democracy now possible throughout all these years, our staff and volunteers, past and present, the more than 1500 public radio and television stations that carry us, and most of all our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. Dont forget, you can keep up with us on facebook, instagram, twitter, youtube, roku. Thank you, everyone, for supporting news with a heart, for helping us go to where the silence is. Congratulations. Happy 24 democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ]