Piece Description

Action Speaks! is a series of contemporary topic-driven panel discussions framed by the theme "Underappreciated Dates that Changed America."  Each panel draws three or four experts, academics, creatives, and other relevant guests into an open-ended discussion with the larger community in the casual atmosphere of the downtown Providence arts organization, AS220.  Action Speaks! has partnered with RI's NPR station, WRNI, since 1995, and holds the honor of being been the first locally generated show aired on the station. Now you can tune in nationwide to Action Speaks! to hear host Marc Levitt and an endless parade of perceptive intellects and insightful audience members!

The fall season of Action Speaks: Underappreciated Dates that Changed America is organized around the theme ‘What Now?’ With our country mired in its worst economic collapse since the great depression, history can be a guide for what actions our nation should or shouldn’t take to provide for its citizens and whether or not it is time to re-set our priorities.

1993 - The creation of Hilary Clinton's Taskforce on Healthcare

Is the patient stable, improving, or failing? What are the chances of survival for a nation divided on health reform?

As we enter into what will be the next big stretch of our nation's effort to reform the health care system, Action Speaks looks back on Hillary Clinton's 1993 Healthcare Taskforce.  What can past failures teach us about the present stakes, struggles, and special interests in the health care arena? Can this historical precedent offer us any clues in our search for long-term solutions?

Featured Guests:

Dr. Joseph Chazan, MD is the President and founder of Nephrology Associates, Inc., an actively practicing Nephrologist, and the Executive General Manager of American Renal Associates, Inc. for RI and S.E. Mass.  Chazan is a Clinical Professor of Medicine (Emeritus) at Brown University's Warren Alpert School of Medicine.

T.R. Reid is the author of nine books including the current bestseller The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care. Reid has taught at Princeton University and the University of Michigan; he has served as an expert advisor to many organizations both local and national. A former correspondent for the Washington Post and frequent commentator on NPR, Reid has written and hosted documentary films for National Geographic TV, PBS Frontline, and the A&E network. Two of his creations, A Second Opinion and Sick Around the World are critical examinations of the current health care system.

Theda Skocpol, Ph.D is a sociologist and political scientist at Harvard University. She has served as Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and gained recognition for her work on civic participation, including Boomerang: Clinton's Health Security Effort and The Turn Against Government in U.S. Politics. Skocpol was the recipient of the prestigious 2007 Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science.

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Action Speaks!, a co-production of AS220 and the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, would like to thank The National Endowment for the Humanities who provided major funding to our program; our Media Partners: WRNI, RIPBS & the Providence Phoenix.  Thanks to The What Cheer? Brigade for our intro music.

Find out more at http://actionspeaksradio.org/ 

Contact the production crew at actionspeaksradio@as220.org with any feedback, ideas for future shows for press info or to request a personalized ID. You can also write to us at Action Speaks! c/o AS220 Main Office, 95 Mathewson St. Dreyfus #204, Providence RI 02903. If you are a radio station and wish to receive a CD of Action Speaks! please visit Creative PR's website: creativepr.org to make a request or contact them at info@creativepr.org / 1-888-233-5650. After December 2009, please contact actionspeaksradio@as220.org with any CD requests.