editorial cartoons on efforts to pass universal health care in america. university of rochester professor theodore brown texas historical look at how cartoonists talked-about medicare and the 1960's. this is just over an hour. everyone iening, want to welcome you here -- everyone.ng, i want to welcome you here. presidentthank the who has been in extraordinary supporter of the program here at roosevelt house. ank her for her hard work and support. tisch elimination fund

-- illumination fund. it is an important addition to the new york community. this has served as a wonderful place for intellectual discussion and debate around a range of social policy issues. i'm excited weakened crash they could be here with us tonight. excited they could be here with us tonight. when you walked down to the second floor of pathan -- second floor and realize this is the place where fdr conceived the social safety net and you are a progressive, it makes you feel warm. affordable , the care act was in the stage of just being implemented.

many were concerned that people did not understand what they were getting. they did not understand what they needed, but they were getting carried a lot of misinformation. despite the clinton health care reform debate many years before, people thought this was a new idea. they were not closed in on the long history of health care reform. i individual learner -- i am a isual learner and fan of political cartoons seriou, . as i thought about my project, it seemed this would be a great way to tell the story of health reform and decided let's do it over 100 years. this is not just about obamacare.

withsed the idea around and visitinghe fdr fellow in many of the senior staff. those folks thought it was a good idea. i had cartoons i could show them and give them an idea of what this might look like. they help me identify our research assistant who helped catalog the cartoons and did not more work on the book and ended .p being a co-author i thought about who might help me with the history of this project and i thought about my good colleague ted brown. history ofad a telling the story of health reform, particularly in the early days, using political

cartoons. he is a major contributor to this work. we could not have done this without him. the cartoonso take and put them out in chronological order. committee tell an annotation after each cartoon so people would understand -- and maybe tell an annotation after each cortines of people could understand -- cartoon so people could understand. ted said we need to be st orytellers here so we added the cartoons and a narrative. and a way to tell the story. with talking to other people doing books that are similar to this. ne is doing a text on health

and nutrition using political cartoons. i asked about her experience. like everything else in public health, this is a group project. she helped us link with a cartoonist group. the founder was intrigued with the idea. so they parted with us -- they partnered with us and supplied most of the cartoons in the later part of the book. packedook has 174 pages with cartoons. 9 of 27 cartoonists have won the pulitzer prize. the was amazing to get that kind of talent in this kind of book. you will hear from one of these amazing cartoonist later, clay

bennett, who did the forward for the book. the chattanooga times free press. thank you for the work you have done on that book. i want to bring up our first about theo will talk history of health reform. >> thank you for coming this evening. i am looking forward to telling you some of this history in a quick overview.

obviously it is so rich and payable at the same time that we can only get some glimpses of it so painful at sch and the same time that we can only get some glimpses of that. the way theby cartoons will flow by that there are recurring themes as well as difficulties that arise with the times. it is put out by the american association for labor legislation which is an advocacy see -- advocacy organization. the meaning of the cartoon is clear. the endless work as much better protected than the american but that skimpy umbrella. and we should learn from our

english compatriots to the american worker who was naturally taller and more robust [indiscernible] because of the lack of protection. health reform did quite well but then it ran into major problems. the first red scare came in the wake of the russian revolution. hear they became a familiar suspects. the red scare changed everything because now there was a read the label to condemn the effort to create a uniform national health program. that label has been attached to it almost ever since -- bolshevik. 1930's, there was a left

wing and a right wing. in liberal and a much more conservative faction. here they are in combat in the 1930's over a proposal for health reform introduced by a liberal democratic senator from new york who was important in the new deal and health reform ticke. am i not projecting? is drawn by herbert block who have a career of more than 50 years drawing cartoons about issues and moments in the health reform debate. both figures there are actually characters of real persons who were central in this battle. isaac and on the left, maurice fishbine.

perhaps the most outspoken and negatively affected antagonist to health reform who coined some of the worst freeze is to characterize it. the fast for the 1940 -- we fast forward to the 1940's. it is even more dangerous. have late 1940's we mccarthyism. they used images of the cold war to discredit but president truman and legislative allies tried to do. there is also samson. you know what happens to stamps and when his locks are short. happens to what

samson when his locks are short. thes napping not realzing headline in his lap. russia's aim to destroy america with a vehicle of health reform as a device to do that. will combine and number of things in this one slide. the united states moved in the direction of some kind of national health coverage but it was bizarre. toerage through employment collectively bargain arrangement provided by commercial insurance agencies carriedthe wind -- agencies. out of thes taken sales. government played a critical role. lots of people got health insurance instead through employment. what was great for employees and their families and terrible when

those employees retired career because now they faced the increasing challenges of health care in their laughter years. -- in their latter years. this became the moment when some very bright reform-minded person came up with the idea of medicare. we can't get universal health care insurance through in this political climate. tug on people's heart strings and point out the objective needs of the elderly, we can get uniform health care for those over 65 to qualify for social security retirement. that ominous threat to politicians because the elderly and the best organized most likely to vote court -- to vote cohort in the population.

in the 1960's, battle over medicare rates. the familiar suspects were lined up. medical association was still playing a negative role. leaders of the civil-rights movement and the naacp knew that hospitals and other health care as a titian's were incredibly -- and other health care institutions were incredibly suffocateegregated. they were able to put pressure on the administration after kennedy's assassination. it would have a rally -- a ready

integration of hospitals. this was an important new political. political that was the general climate of the 1960's. a universal form of health insurance for an aged cohort that maede it -- made it unique in the world,. . those who wanted to go further savas was the starting point and opponents of universalize version of medicare. by the 1970's, there were leaders like kennedy reflected theire in what would have been the mayor of jimmy carter's cabinet. for universal programs which proliferated during the 1970's. the was a program sponsored by the american medical association

after its own likes. there have been won a few years ago. the question now was not whether we would get universal health reform but whether we would get a particular kind of it such as kennedy was advocating. then the bottom fell out. a major economic crisis in the 1970's. the oil embargo and now the worry was extending coverage to extendingthat can -- coverage to everyone. how could we imagine a incurring more costs at that moment? carter began as a lukewarm healthter of health -- insurance by the end of is it ministration, kennedy was challenging him for the nomination. this is a parody of a a parodyd n tv. -- paraody o

what could be more horrific than to have teddy kennedy looking back, his bathroom mirror. the reagan era. there you can see why national reform did not do very well done and the 1980's. that was reagan's mantra. net.ied to cut the safety he cut medicaid, food stamp programs. he tried to cut medicare. there was an important pushed back, he cannot get away with that. he implemented new mechanisms for prospective payment by drg's. that meant a very important shiftingset in of cost some of those covered by health insurance now had to take a make up forern to

the lesser revenues coming from medicare. that meant health care premiums would shoot through the roof and employers were beginning to push back. forced a lot of people out of insurance so we had a dual problem which was the problem of the covered and the uncovered. another herb block cartoon. 33 million uninsured. those who were covered were covered in a bird in some way -- in a burdensome way. health reform an issue for the middle class and not just those who are more trouble at the bottom of of political spectrum.

it led to clinton deciding health reform is a major issue. m. ran on this on his platfor had great ambitions to health reform. hillary was the face of the commission but it ran into trouble. hillaryis fell on on fairly. is a visual parity .n escher the images ofit, hillary trying to find her way through the tangle of health reform. this failure, there wer e attempts to do piecemeal

reforms crit. reforms butrtant not universal. george w. bush had other things on his plate. some singh exploited that he suddenly got interested in cynicse reform -- some gotted out that he suddenly interested in medicare reform. the medicare modernization act of 2003 is a huge giveaway to big farming and so on. it treats medicare part b with its donna holt. we will not get into that. that is what he did. at the national lover, the was no return to clinton's aspirations until 2008 -- at the national level, there was no

return to clinton's aspirations until 2008. another favorite and most recent recipient of the pulitzer prize. there is mccain given a life line into the arm being sucked dry by those leeches labeled the insurance industry and hmos. perspectivekers analytically accurate. but barack obama backed into health reform, too. he was out distant early in his primary campaign by hillary and even by john edwards. so he had to catch up. by the time he was elected and have his chief of pfizer's -- chief advisors standing next to

him, he is acting very academically and talking about the bending down of the cost turf. messaging is being drowned out by an ominous looking machine in the back, the great noise machine. socialism, so on. turning phrases -- threatening phrases used to stop the road to reform. barack obama created some of his own problems. cynical carton about barack obama. abhisit looks like neville obviously looks like neville chamberlain. appeasement to the

republicans. andit takes -- it takes the shape of an individual mandate. maintain but the republicans through 2006 when it became the basis for reform of governor romney although he seems to have amnesia about that. this is anything but single payer. anything but medicare for all. the hope is that by moving in this direction and allowing commercial interest to play such a large role, he will appease the republicans and they will support his efforts. of course none of this happen. chamberlai bennett, created

this cartoon. democrats were not -- they did not courtney their activities in the work and at an awkward -- ofd they were inept and court. it looks like harry reid is not going to catch that health reform victim. the democrats did a lot of damage themselves by their failure to play the political game as it may have needed to be played. the end result is this -- that's what some people think of the affordable care act. it carries over our health care system with a little bit of cosmetic change. but you know the expression. you can put lipstick on the cake. that is what the message is here.

-- you can put lipstick on a pig. that is what the message is here. joined together to agree a lawsuit brought to the supreme court. it was very unclear how a book del. unclear how it would go. in reality, a lot of nervousness. that the court-- would hammer away at the foundation's as they were being constructed. another wonderful cartoon. liberalu see the four whoes would justice roberts said the interstate commerce clause defense that the obama

administration argued would not hold but then turned around and set we can't hold this -- if you don't buy health insurance, you have a penalty. president obama american samoa looking on with curiosity -- president obama is looking on with curiosity. this is exactly the unpredictable outcome but it was an outcome that upheld the affordable care act. another decision made by the supreme court in late june of this past summer. the obama administration wants to extend health insurance coverage to the delight and 30 million people by making -- to peopleing like 30 million by providing federal funds to do the firste work in

years. the obama administration broke into the affordable care act that is states did not agree to do that, there'll be certain penalties. obama administration wrote into the affordable care act that it states did not agree to that, there would be certain penalties. aying that would be too punitive. choose toates could accept the funds but they did not have to. through open the possibility that many states will resist extending medicaid even if it is in their financial interests. policy is this one.

by nick anderson -- that is the real policy of the red states dumping the patients who should by theen covered affordable care act. under medicaid expansion instead of dumping them at the door of the emergency room which of course will have rebounding and cascade of facts negatively on the whole health financing arrangement and all of us. it is a very poor policies. thank you. [applause] >> i want to warn you all that the iq level is about to plummet. [laughter] --eed som assistance here some assistance here, i'm guessing. it's a pc.

there we go. alright. thank you. my name is clay bennett. butcan talk about monkeys it's so much better to see them in the zoo. that is why i am here. i am an actual monte. i actually draw editorial cartoons for a living. . i was asked to give a local political cartoons in influencing policy and public opinion. -- on the rold of political policys in influencing and public opinion. that's just cartoons can influence policy in public opinion. i am not sure that is the case. thinkh as i would like to

that we hold some great sway and can profoundly affect society, i think the . is still out on that -- the jury is still out on that. if popular opinion is any [indiscernible] i will talk about how editorial cartoonists try to affect the public discourse. better yet, since i cannot speak for anyone but myself, i think i will limit my remarks to what i see my role as. i not an expert on history or influence of the art form in general. but i am the world's foremost authority on me. [laughter]

even though this book and this event is all about health care reform in america, i will be sharing cartoons on a range of issues. you guysshow you -- uyo are juyst slowing -- just slowing me down. i could show you work on my health care reform was needed in the first place. i could even show you cartoons about the obstacles and impediments in getting the reform passed. and i could follow those wth cartoons about the threats of repeal. but i will not. i will not do any of that. what i will do is show you cartoons on many different

topics. correct explain what motivates me as an arbitral -- try to explain what motivates me as an editorial cartoonist. look atif you want to carton's about health care reform, by the book. cartoons about health care reform, buy the book. after all, the very job description of an editorial cartoonist is to present an opinion on a political issue or current event and to express ritual,ing humor, exaggeration, and mockery. [laughter] guys are laughin at dead

people bobbing in a pool. the editorial cartoons are not suppose to be even-handed. they are not supposed to be impartial and they are not supposed to be fairwhbeich. which is fortunate for me because i am none of those things. forve been drawing cartoons the "chattanooga times free press" over five years but have been in the business over 3 decades. it is been a great time to be an editorial cartoonist. , and yet there are 8 cans. you don't need to ount.

-- count. i have been able to force my opinion on the undeserving leaders of six different newspapers in five different states. readers of 6 different newspapers in five different states. publication like the christian science monitor, a concentrated exclusively on national and international issues. .t was a great job a lot of my friends and colleagues were surprised when i left. why i would want to move from a liberal city like boston to a conservative state like tennessee. i have my recent trip growing up

and the alabama, -- i had my reasons. alabama,p with and in later in life i had a strange yearning to return to the region that left such lasting scar on my psyche. passing an irony of english only law in tennessee. at its core, editorial cartooning is a-art form. it is based on dissent and fueled by cartoonist's discontented alienation. so it was difficult for someone like me or to work up a righteous indignation in a city like boston where politicians are so progressive and public policy is so enlightened. tennessee has been a welcome

relief from all of that. i found nothing like -- enlightened the mood like some lethal injection humor. i am figuring this crowd out. live in tennessee, i am in a constant state of indignation. i'm so discontent and alienated, i do not know how i could be any happier. i knew it was going to be a great move but had no idea what kind of gold i would strike in tennessee. you have to love it. i included as cartoon because a has more labels than any car to and i've ever drawn. if you reachce -- he point where you use

[indiscernible] , you have gone too far. but i digress. tennessee, a place where a man as measured by the caliber of his handgun and a woman is measured by the caliber of her hand down -- hand gun. tennessee convicted a man for teaching evolution 87 years ago. and the same state that this past year enacted a law that allows the teaching of a biblical alternatives to darwinism. so much for abolition. you have to love a state that has major industrial interests

like coal mining. nuclear power is big. more recently, the hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas. this is one i've done in the last week on fracking. sorry for the industry because of their name. , if you could've come up with the more embarrassing name, i do not think he could have done it. i think they need to change their names. how about gas holes?

it is just an idea. that is the sexiest woman i've .ver done a very drawn.ve ever q i wonder how chattanooga has taken to me. - you might wonder how

technical has taken to me. even though my readers may not pay me a lot of respect, if my mail is any indication, at least they are paying attention. i will show you what i mean. i brought some files here. mail.ile is of hate this is from the last several months. but the cards, letters from people ranging from those who really hit me to those who really, really hate me. my favorites are the ones with a clip my cartoons out of the paper and they write messages all over it. t is kind of unabomber-esque

but i suppose it does save them money on stationery. they the factthat are into recycling. in my show i want to share -- this is the first one. let's take a look at this one. there is a laundry-list of taste,s that i have poor and am tawdry, distasteful and offensive. but what gets my gaot is when he calls me a redneck. i have been called a red many times. but a redneck? that is uncalled for. here is another one. this one is less diplomatic. he goes for the big guns,

calling me a babykiller and antichrist. i don't know if i'm the antichrist but i kind of hope it was the antichrist. you have to have goals in life. i am fine with babykiller and antichrist, just don't calle me a redneck. these cartoons, i get them all the time and don't always contain elaborate messages. like this one, where a reader simply scrawled -- on my cartoon. this is embarassing because that is one word. now, i don't want you to -- i don't want you to think that

it's all about hate in chatanooga. i do get fan letters. i brought my file of fan letters. well, letter. a postcard. i don't know. is "you're not as stupid as you look" positive? i am setting the bar low. i wanted something in the file. favoritegs me to the letter, a dramatization of the events. this is neither the cartoon nor the reader. clipped aago a reader cartoon out of the newspaper. this is hardly unusual.

what was unusual is what he did next. he took the cartoon and proceeded to use it in a way someone customarily uses paper in a restroom. complete, he envelopet into hian and sent it to me, with some dna. talk about putting grunt into disgruntled. you can't do that with an email. can you? it is gross but you have to give him points for commitment and as

a cartoonist i have to respect he showed his feelings without words. this is the dialog that brought me back to the south. i love my readers, even those that don't love me. you see, as an editorial cartoonisth, all you can hope for is a vigorous debate. chatanooogan borders on menacing. my wife may be concerned wh the annual death thrbu only seee greatest compliment. to anyone things up -- who took umbrage, any

conservatives who took offense at anything i've said or shown, i would say, no offense was intented but -- that is not true, some was intended. i have a peace offering. i have something even the conservatives may appreciate. it's a cute puppy. didn't that make it all ok? thank you all very much. [applause] [laughter] >> a puppy. thank you, very much. ted, let me ask you one question

and then we will go to the audience. are there questions in the audience first? you've been telling this for some time. what did you leave out of the toilet paper story? >> of the book? nothing. what you have to do is remove a lot of the detail and nuance and get to the main themes a reader not familiar can grasp and weave it around an image. ther are areas of complexity that could not be captured in the limited space we have. with the basis of substantial reading. if people want to go forward we suggest reading the back of the

book. continueread -- and on these issues. we haven't distorted the big themes but we haven't presented enough layers and complexities of a full historic account. >> you left out a lot of my cartoons. i had 14 in there but i knew of 10 more i'd like to see. >> we were under strict limits. >> clay, what do you think -- you are thinking ahead. what are topics you may thing will be on this year -- earlier to aing friend about liberal politics

and how discouraging it is so slow. it took 100 years for health care but as the old saying goes goes to c of history justice and the issue that shows that best is gay rights. 30 years ago in college, everyone was closeted and now it is to the level where -- gay marriage is inevitable, gays being added to the civil rights bill. it is just a matter of when it will happen and i do believe, as naive as i may be that this supreme court will be on the right side and -- the defense of

marriage act is history, into the ash heap of history and prop 8 will do the same. it just depends on how much the court wants to say. on,hey took this case either they can overturn the lower courts or use this as the foundation for a broad ruling and i hope they are thinking the latter. that is what i look for, monumental advance on gay rights. >> i have a different perspective and am occupationally cynical and for all the achievements -- the health care act will have major problems.

health care act was effecting incremental -- they continue with double digit inflation. and we are to benefit from electronic medical records. as they come in, expenses go up. worried about medicaid expansion. in the near future, i see that many of the hopes of the affordable care act -- there may be need to rethink that. i am a strong advocate of single-payer medicare and it would not be a terrible outcome if this happened negatively so people could move in a single- payer direction.

[applause] >> your thoughts on single- payer? >> i think obamacare -- i'm glad he embraced that, it is easy to say. it was not nearly radical enough. iam a fan of single payer and am not a cynical -- i think it may be to the tetriment of those who stand in the way of medicaid expansion and i've seen where the legislature is steadfast against these and the governor is sweating it out. he understands it is 100% covered and then 90% every year after that, 100,000 tennesseeans are added. those are people's lives the

soutate could effect. i am hoping the pressure is to the right side. >> there is shattering in the ranks. ther is an elected governor -- theey disagree. one is pragmatic and maybe -- i will abandon my cynicism. >> you will see your relatives or friends getting more benefits because their state embraced it. i hope that direct comparison decision.to the right a question -- but i don't think you have to abandon the cynicism.

the republican politicians will do it for the hospital loby. kasich has said he will go for expansion. my question to clay, have you a cartoon yet or is it in the cerebral stage about al gore's sale of current tv to al jazeera? >> look for any opportunity to slam liberals because it gives the illusion of objectivity. but, you know -- i haven't rushed to the drawing board on that issue, i must admit, and al gore is a prominent tennesseean. i am a big fan of al jazeera, they're a good news outlet. they do own a lot of oil but --

i don't know. i don't know as anyone who works for them -- a dcartoonist could contact my syndicate. first fellows,- john mcdunnough -- when he was involved in trying to promote the affordable care act and he argued that if we'd looked at the socieal security act, we'd be opposed. and that getting it started is what was important. i wonder if you may comment on that. >> during the debate when republicans were talking about

repealing obamacare? it was with the caveat, everything in play, the 26-year- old being on your insurance, the no caps. they weren't campaigning against that. they said they would replicate it. all the stuff that came to being is popular. program will be more popular with the more benefits. >> there is a poll that supports that. when people were asked about specific provision,s 75% were in favor. and when they were asked about obamacare, 55% negative.

there is a split in peolpe'ple's understanding. we have to take advantage of when there is a convergence of political force to go for the whole enchilada. because i don't think you can ammend your way from the affordable care act to something better. my sense is many of the cost- cutting provisions and those trying to prevent the rate of inflation will not work and when the burden of that is clear that the system is unsustainable, we will have to think of a system more efficient and fairly organized and that is when we moved to a single-payer system.

>> i wondered what your thoughts were on the possibility of the raising of the medicare age. >> the challenge is that it may leave people uncovered. and so you'd have to find a way to fill that hole and we have -- there were many people talking about lowering the medicare age and many people may retire early with their signifigancant other becomes uncovered and the yare not elligible for medicare. it actually -- the other thing and the bigagain

thing is that it goes from one person to the other. it will cost the whole system more as those people move from an efficient -- from a medical and cost perspective, medicair to one more expensive. >> back there. >> i had two questions. instead of raising the medicair care age, why not raise the contributions? >> that is a great idea and i'd say, do the same for social security. pay -- yoou pay as long as you earn.

>> that is what i'd change about social security, that you take out take out the tax. >> the other comment is, the oaffordable care act will cause the lower end of the econmic spectrum, they will rally around for the voting block? >> that is quite possible. was a fact is -- i state health official twice and costs -- they had these siloed events and the primary care so states and those folks

can be put in the medicaid program -- at the federal poverty level. that is based on how the programs are structured. those states see there is money to be found in those programs if they bring those people in. there is a comprehensive package for many people than some of the private insurance. to bring down coveriare costs is to everyone from birth to the medicare program. >> one of the most important 9s works is byhe

bob starr. "thevents the term -- protected public." those who don't want anything to change. hy this may not play out is because it is not any one thing but a set of layers. if you are covered under your employer you continue and -- you have another set of consumers with different interests. so you cannot imagine a uniformed population because the

affordable care act is many different things. >> the 49% won't rise up. you think of them as the people who don't pay income tax, a lot of them don't realize they are part of the group. the tea party, is it in their economic interest to support the republican party? greedy. your own pocketbook. if middle class americans -- looked at this they'd steer clear of the republicans, but they don't. they still elect them a super-

majority. as obama is elected, tennesse has a supermajority. the democrats don't have to show up. if they walk out, it doesn't matter. the republicans can do state business. surprising. >> are you more optimistic looking at vermont? >> that question -- by oliver fine. from the international health program. vermont is a state moving to single payer on the sate level. passing that on both levels and they brought in a health policy analyst and it looks as if

vermont may be on the way. the problem is before they can waivers and they say you can't get a waiver until 2017 and what bernye sanders tries to urge is to move it to 2014 because on the ground are the members of the commercial insurance industry as they spread the propaganda -- the more the wind is taken out of the sails. maybe vermond can do what the will of the people wants. and we can say, 'as vermont goes, so goes the nation." >> i am encouraged when i look to vermont, about everything. it's just dreamy. >> a question over here.

that said a cbo report employers would start simply paying the fee under obamacare and drop people. and you'd see as a result a lot of people moving to medicaid. is there the potential this could create that -- vested to improven medicaid the program. >> what is amazing is you read a cbo report. >> wonderful student. >> i am in awe. >> we are not sure what will

happen. we have a lot of rhetoric and said they would drop coverage. the public rose up and they said they won't go there. health insurance is employee- expected. i run a business and people want to know the benefit package. people make employment decisions based on that. it remains to be seen. the moving target -- the cbo projected there may be some leakage out of the employee coverage system. with that, give our colleagues a

round of applause. and i turn it over to judigth. thank you for being here. rooseveldt house. the books are upstairs. we will sign them upstairs. >> mr. secretary, we put them down as undecided. chairman, as i listen to it struck mets,

what a wonderful thing free speech is. >> that is the speech wehre rumsfeld justified attacking irawq and you didn't hear the questions -- how much money will halliburton make, how many americans will be killed, how many iraqi civilians will die? and i'd like those questions. >> more with medea benjamin on c-span's q and a. >> in his address, obama talks about the importants of easter. and republican -- talks about

the keystone pipeline. >> for many americans, this is a sacred time of year. jewish families commemorate the triumph of fate over oppression. malia, sasha and i join to celebrate the resurrection of jesus christ and easter. these holy days give us the precious ability to slow down. christians we remember the sacrifice jesus made and extended the gift of salvation and we commit to following his example, loving our lord and savior and everyone as the child of god. those are at the heart of