Category: Healthcare

PANA fights for healthcare for all as a human right. We support campaigns to win Medicare-for-All and center the demand for equality in healthcare as a strategic approach to building the grassroots power necessary to win major reform and overturn the monopoly of private insurance companies and pharmaceutical corporations that deny healthcare for over 30 million in the U.S.

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Healthcare

Centering Asian Americans: Racism, Violence, and Health

Hear insights from people with experience from the frontlines of healthcare work in Asian American communities, including the challenges around data aggregation and dis-aggregation, combatting the Model Minority Myth…

Episode 213: Antiracism in Medicine Series – Episode 13 – Centering Asian Americans: Racism, Violence, and Health

 


CPSolvers: Anti-Racism in Medicine Series

Episode 13: Centering Asian Americans: Racism, Violence, and Health

Show Notes by Naomi F. Fields

December 21, 2021

Summary: This episode is about racism faced by Asian-Americans, why it often goes unrecognized, and how we can work to rectify these wrongs. This discussion is hosted by Jazzmin Williams, Rohan Khazanchi, MPH, and Jennifer Tsai MD, MEd, as they interview Thu Quach, PhD, an epidemiologist and galvanizing leader who has led the Asian Health Services (Oakland, CA) in addressing racial disparities in COVID-19, and Tung Nguyen, MD, a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and a nationally-renowned health disparities researcher. Our inspiring guests help us to contextualize struggles faced by Asian-Americans even as they outline and energize within us a path forward – together.

Content Warning: This episode contains themes of violence, trauma-induced mental health concerns, and brief mentions of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255, that’s 800-273-TALK.

 

Categories
Healthcare Medicare-for-All, single-payer healthcare, universal healthcare, healthcare disparities, healthcare inequality, corporate Democrats, healthcare insurance

US Ranks 36th Out of 37 Nations on COVID-19 Mortality

COVID-Mort-by-Country-BMJ

https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj-2021-066768

A new study quantifies the loss in life expectancy due to COVID-19 in nations around the world. The US is in the worst tier, with a drop of nearly two years. Blame lays at the feet of mishandling by Trump, but also long-term degradation of public health and primary care access. Both must be rebuilt.

From abstract:

 

“Reduction in life expectancy was estimated as the difference between observed and expected life expectancy in 2020 using the Lee-Carter model. . . .

 

Results: Reduction in life expectancy in men and women was observed in all the countries studied except New Zealand, Taiwan, and Norway, where there was a gain in life expectancy in 2020. No evidence was found of a change in life expectancy in Denmark, Iceland, and South Korea. The highest reduction in life expectancy was observed in Russia (men: −2.33; women: −2.14), the United States (men: −2.27; women: −1.61), Bulgaria (men: −1.96; women: −1.37), Lithuania (men: −1.83; women: −1.25), Chile (men: −1.64; women: −0.88), and Spain (men: −1.35; women: −1.13)”

 

[Note: All figures are in years; confidence intervals deleted to enhance readability]

COVID-Mort-by-Country-BMJ

Comment and Graph by David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler via http://healthjusticemonitor.org

COVID-19 Death Rates and a Healthcare System Designed to Profit From Illness and Suffering:

These data provide further evidence of the criminal mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. By another measure – years of life lost per 100,000 population – the US was better only than Bulgaria, Russia and Lithuania. Donald Trump’s denialism and malfeasance bear much of the blame for the US’ sorry record on COVID-19. But the gutting of public health capacity, which occurred under both Democrats and Republicans, and our defective health care system, which obstructs access to care and discourages trusting relationships, were and remain major contributors.

6% of health spending should go for public health, double the current proportion. Further, we need to erase access barriers, and build a real and universal primary care infrastructure.

The Current U.S. Healthcare System Seeks to Discard Those Most in Need and is Inherently Discriminatory:

The Democrats, not Trump, continue to lead efforts to dump COVID-19 positive hospital overflow to willing privately-operated nursing homes. And, they are also involved in data coverup and tactics of failing to dis-aggregate data. We know this because of involvement in dealing with Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and the high-death rates at Kei-Ail Los Angeles, a nursing facility traditionally in service of Japanese American and Japanese seniors in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-01/hospital-transfers-spark-covid-surge-la-nursing-homes

See more at https://saveourseniors.network

 

Categories
Healthcare Medicare-for-All, single-payer healthcare, universal healthcare, healthcare disparities, healthcare inequality, corporate Democrats, healthcare insurance Political Power

PANA Members Join “Knit the Revolution” Podcast on Medicare-for-All

211220-KnitTheRevolutionPodcast
https://youtu.be/9LCAw07zvH0

Tsukuru Fors, Reggie Wong and Taiji Miyagawa share experiences from their work to win healthcare-for-all, including AB 1400 in CA.

How efforts by PANA to address the larger issue of inequality faced by Asian and Pacific Islander Americans are an example of how to build a broader, more diverse and powerful grassroots movement to win the change we all need:

E.g. https://bit.ly/HealthcareForAPIs
E.g https://safetywalks.org

E.g. https://saveourseniors.network

  https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3Ky5VNAup2t0HaxIJR8kw8dE2KwDqoP4
Categories
Healthcare

US Surpasses 800,000 Pandemic Deaths

More than 800,000 Americans have now died from the coronavirus, the highest recorded national death toll from the global pandemic.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59645307

The 800,000 total exceeds the populations of cities such as Boston or Washington DC. The milestone means nearly twice as many Americans have died during the pandemic as in World War 2.

The US death toll far exceeds that of any other country.

U.S. Death Count earlier in December, Prior to Exceeding 800K
More than 40% Were Preventable
Single Payer Would Reduce Pandemic Deaths

TAKE ACTION TO WIN THE HEALTHCARE REFORM WE NEED: https://progressiveasians.org

Categories
Healthcare

AB 1400: Quality Bilingual/Bi-cultural Healthcare for Asian/Pacific Islanders

December 11, 2021

Categories
Healthcare

Noon, Dec. 11 – Winning Healthcare Equality for All Asian/Pacific Islanders

FB Event Banner 211211 AB1400 Event
In-Person Town Hall about winning equality in healthcare for Asian/Pacific Islander communities

 

Facebook Event Page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/834849197249482

Send a Letter QR Code Rev
bit.ly/calcareletter2asm

Event Flyers:

211211-English-BandW-halfsheet 2111211-Korean-BandW-Halfsheet 121211-Spanish-BandW-halfsheet 211211-EnglishHalfsheetsX2 Flyer with Thai photos 2 Flyer with Thai photos 1 Flyer with Thai photos 3 2111211-EnglishHalfsheets-BandW-x2 211211-Korean-halfsheets-X2 211211-Spanish-halfsheets-X2
Categories
Healthcare

The First Year of COVID: Filipinos Were Among Hardest Hit, But Hidden by Data

https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/year-one-covid-19-death-toll/the-first-year-of-covid-filipinos-were-among-hardest-hit-but-hidden-by-data/

Filipinos had the second highest mortality rate in the county during the pandemic’s first year — but that cost was largely hidden because the county reported cases and deaths among Filipinos within a broad category of Asian Americans, rather than breaking them out specifically. 

Maya Srikrishnan

Voices of San Diego

In San Diego County, Filipinos accounted for about 7 percent of the 4,000 COVID-19 deaths during the pandemic’s first year, while they make up roughly 6.5 percent of the county population. That made Filipinos the third largest nationality for pandemic deaths in the county during that time.  

Filipinos faced a unique set of risks. Many Filipinos work in the health care sector or in other essential, high-risk employment, like in assisted living facilities. They also tend to live in multigenerational households, and suffer from certain health conditions that increase morbidity with COVID, like diabetes and hypertension. The majority of Filipinos who died, 92 percent, were immigrants, while only 8 percent were U.S.-born. 

But because Filipino deaths and cases weren’t specifically tracked by the county – grouped instead with other Asian nationalities, which had lower numbers of cases and deaths – community advocates and researchers said that the community didn’t get the support and resources it needed. 

Read the Voices of San Diego article HERE.

Categories
Healthcare

The Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19 on Pacific Islander Communities

Take a listen: https://theworld.org/media/2021-01-29/pacific-islanders-hit-hard-covid-19

‘Alisi Tulua, project director of the Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander COVID-19 Data Policy Lab at the University of California, Los Angeles, tells Marco Werman that while California is easing its lockdown restrictions, Native Hawaiian and Pacific islanders in the state are still experiencing high infection rates.

Please visit SoCal PIRCT to learn more: https://www.pacificislanderhealth.org/

Categories
Healthcare

Single Payer in CA Would Have Reduced COVID-19 Deaths

If we are to take a simple projection of COVID-19 death comparisons between the U.S.A. and countries with Single Payer, if CA had already implemented a Single-Payer healthcare system prior to the pandemic, we could have potentially reduced COVID-19 deaths by over 60K!

We cannot afford to NOT pass AB 1400. Support the Cal Care Act and the fight to win Healthcare Equality!

COVID-19_USA-vs-SinglePayerCountries

https://nhchc.org/…/Comparative-Analysis_International

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Categories
Healthcare

Win Healthcare for All: Send a Letter to Your CA Assemblymember


Send a Letter QR Code Rev

Take 2 minutes to send this PREWRITTEN letter to your assemblymember:
bit.ly/calcareletter2asm

The historic CA healthcare reform bill,
AB 1400 will be reintroduced in January!
AB 1400 will deliver healthcare to ALL Californians. AB 1400, for the first time in history, will address INEQUALITY in healthcare services.

Let’s get this grassroots people lobby effort going NOW! Send a message to your Assemblymember NOW, urging them to pledge to vote YES on AB 1400!

Categories
Healthcare

Newsom Endangers Lives of CA Seniors: Vetoes AB 279

Siding with the corporate-operator-serving California Department of Public Health, California Governor Gavin Newsom parroted CDPH falsehoods to justify his support for corporate evictions of seniors from nursing homes during the ongoing pandemic as well as condoning degradation of services at such facilities.

From Save Our Seniors Network, read about how Newsom completely disregarded the legislative process with the veto of this straightforward bill, which intended to protect senior lives during the pandemic:

https://bit.ly/RebuttalToNewsomVeto

Categories
Healthcare

Disproportionate COVID-19 Deaths Among APIs in CA

COVID-19 Deaths in CA

READ MORE: To live and die
in Los Angeles
COVID-19,
structural
stress, and the path to a
more resilient public health

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