"Look a dying man in the
eyes and tell me how we fix this country."
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Activist Ady Barkan on
Wednesday asked former Vice President Joe Biden, the only contender for the
2020 Democratic presidential nomination who has not sat down with the dying
healthcare activist, to find time to meet and discuss Medicare for All.
Barkan, who is suffering from
ALS, made the request in a video produced by Now This released
Wednesday. The activist is going into surgery thursday for a tracheostomy to
help him breathe, but said that after after his recovery, he and Biden should
sit down.
"The surgery will be
intense, and I'll be in the hospital for a week of recovery," Barkan says
in the video, speaking through his standard video screen that allows him to
talk via eye movements. "But I'll be out soon and back in the struggle
with you."
Despite his illness, Barkan
has been at the forefront of the campaign to win Medicare for All, talking on
camera with five candidates for president: Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.),
Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), as
well as former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro. South
Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas), Sen.
Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and businessman Andrew Yang have all agreed to speak
with Barkan.
Not all the candidates support
Medicare for All. Some, like Biden, want to stick with a private system but
improve it and are critical of Medicare for All.
But Biden is the only
candidate of the top tier to not answer the invitation to speak with the dying
activist.
"Share your personal and
powerful story like your colleagues," Barkan said, referring to Biden's
oft-repeated story of losing his son Beau to brain cancer, "and explain
your vision of healthcare in America."
Barkan ended his appeal on an
emotional note.
"Look a dying man in the
eyes and tell me how we fix this country," said Barkan. "We may
disagree, but that's okay."
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