Health Care Activism

Facilitator: Joel M. Albers
E-mail: joel@uhcan-mn.org
Phone: 612-384-0973
Course Description:
This three-session series focuses on basic political economy and activism in the struggle for health care justice in Minnesota/U.S. The need for health care as a publicly-funded, human right, based on need, not cost, tops the public agenda. Case studies of successful actions include: Minnesota seniors taking bus trips to Canada to obtain needed medications;the Ithaca Health Fund, a self-funded pool for the uninsured to avoid middleman insurance companies; AIDS activists holding a die-in at the New York Stock Exchange to lower the prohibitively expensive price of AZT, the first AIDS drug and much more. This is an exciting time to learn about and become a health care activist in empowering communities to take back health care. No prerequisites necessary.
Time and dates: The class will consist of 3 sessions on Mondays from 7PM to 9PM - 3 classes - Sept 29, Oct 13, Oct 20
Place: Phillips Wangensteen Building room 6-224, on U of M East Bank, bldg entrance at Washington ave near Harvard Street, walk thru concourse to PWB,see PWB sign, take elevator to 6th floor) (see map here).
What is your experience in this skill/body of knowledge?
Joel Albers, Pharm.D. PH.D., is a clinical pharmacist, and health economist, and works with the Universal Health Care Action Network of MN. Joel conducts health economics research, including rights to prescription drug access for seniors and the uninsured, and more recently cost analyses of universal health care models, and their ability to achieve universal coverage, particularly the Medicare model.
Joel has published in various journals, is a regular guest lecturer at the University of MN and College of St. Catherine. In addition to his clinical, research and policy work, Joel works as a community organizer and activist toward solving the health care crisis.