#5SmartReads - April 28, 2023

Hitha on healthcare in America, art + migration in Britain, and how unions show up for disabled workers

April 28, 2023

It’s a sad reality that marginalized groups are treated as an afterthought, versus a priority, when general policy is being made or negotiations are being held.

People with disabilities are the largest minority group, and are often the most undisclosed. And the challenges these people place in the workplace are significant as is. Within unions - organizations built specifically for the worker in mind - things aren’t better at all.

But things are changing, and this article is an excellent read to understand the issue overall, and what’s being done to change things for the better.

A world that’s designed for the marginalized first is a world that’s better for all of us to live in. And while progress is frustratingly slow, it is inching towards that better vision.

I had the great luck of attending a Polite Society screening this week, and I need you all to change your weekend plans to include seeing this in the theaters.

IT. IS. PHENOMENAL.

It’s a film of multitudes (action! romance! thriller!) that happens to be centered on a very specific British-Pakistani experience, and it is such a captivating joy that both made me feel seen and invited into a different culture and experience with such heart and humor.

We don’t see young, brown women own what they do,” she says. “We don’t see brown women step outside the ordinary and have this level of self-belief, have the spirit and passion. We’re not taught to embrace it.”

Priya Kansara may be tapped as the next Tom Cruise, but I hope we rightfully frame her as the first Priya. An actor that can fight and act and deliver laughs and tears within seconds is such a talent, and I hope her future projects showcase her range and skill.

I might need to duck out and go see this again. And I’m stalking iTunes to see when it’s available for purchase.

While I completely agree that we need a better policy and system in place to manage migration with compassion and care and security, there is mounting evidence that immigration bans do not work and lack basic humanity.

And with climate change and global instability exacerbating the migrant crisis we see worldwide, the need and the attempts to migrate will only grow.

This bill making its way through Parliament is entirely unsurprising, and also heartbreaking (especially since the House of Lords can only amend the bill, and not block it). The lifetime ban from ever entering the United Kingdom feels especially punitive and just wrong.

For a country that took no issue in colonizing other lands and imposing their rule (and causing significant damage during said rule), this is hypocritical and cruel.

Meg FitzGerald is the real deal as a healthcare leader. She’s got an incredible experience in different areas of the business, she cares deeply about the patients first, and she’s just a rockstar.

I’m so lucky to have her in my circle (and this is a reminder to send that handwritten note to the people you admire - it’s how our friendship began!). And while I knew a lot about her career and outlook on healthcare, I still learned so much in this piece.

‘“Meg brings compassion and empathy, garnered from years of direct patient care,” said General Nadja West, the former Surgeon General of the U.S. Army. Peter Neupert, a former Microsoft exec who sits on the Lapcorp board, describes her as a “little ADD in the sense that she has a million ideas.” He takes these ideas seriously, however, in large part due to her breadth of experiences and her ongoing clinical work.’

But don’t take West, Neupert, or my words for it. This interview is filled with so many gems and insights in healthcare. And if you want to learn more about Meg, pick up her book Ascending Davos (it’s one I re-read whenever I’m on the verge of burnout or feeling a little lost).

And speaking of healthcare opportunities, both parties came together in the Senate to agree on a significant legislation to help provide transparency and reduce drug costs.

Pharmacy benefit managers are a mysterious middleman in the drug supply chain whose role is to help negotiate better prices on behalf of insurers, but also take a cut in the total price a patient pays (and thus increasing it). How they work and the price they negotiate for each drug is unknown by design, and often done with shareholder value first.

This bill - which I do expect to pass and be signed into law, given the bipartisan support it bears in the Senate - will mandate that much-needed transparency and regulations to restrict some of the shareholder-first policies and focus on patient benefit.

As annoyingly descriptive and complicated this is, it is a really big deal and an important first step in helping control drug costs. I’ll be keeping my eye on this legislation’s path through Congress.

Reply

or to participate.