Luke Messac
@lukemessac.bsky.social
Historian and Emergency physician
Health care rentiers are eating your raises. We’ve got solutions: single payer, public production of pharmaceuticals, enforce laws against corporate practice of medicine. Time to stop pretending this is hopelessly complicated.
www.wsj.com/health/healt...
www.wsj.com/health/healt...
The Average Cost of a Family Health Insurance Plan Is Now $27,000
Higher spending on chronic diseases, weight-loss drugs and hospital bills helped drive the increase.
www.wsj.com
October 22, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Health care rentiers are eating your raises. We’ve got solutions: single payer, public production of pharmaceuticals, enforce laws against corporate practice of medicine. Time to stop pretending this is hopelessly complicated.
www.wsj.com/health/healt...
www.wsj.com/health/healt...
You don’t realize just how bad the shortage of primary care doctors has become until you move and look for a new one. Yes, we are accepting new patients, I heard with relief today. But, the receptionist continued, the first appointment available is August 2027.
August 21, 2025 at 11:16 PM
You don’t realize just how bad the shortage of primary care doctors has become until you move and look for a new one. Yes, we are accepting new patients, I heard with relief today. But, the receptionist continued, the first appointment available is August 2027.
The evil is boundless
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/16/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/16/u...
U.S. Pauses Visitor Visas for Gazans After Right-Wing Outcry
www.nytimes.com
August 17, 2025 at 12:43 AM
The evil is boundless
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/16/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/16/u...
if you need hope from someone who actually deserves to inspire it, check out @abdulelsayed.bsky.social, a doctor who lives up to what medicine should be about: an insistence that all lives are worthy. Oh, and he’s running to be a U.S. Senator from Michigan.
youtu.be/xhS6_Xoz09g
youtu.be/xhS6_Xoz09g
Full 1-on-1 interview with Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed
YouTube video by Click On Detroit | Local 4 | WDIV
youtu.be
July 31, 2025 at 5:31 AM
if you need hope from someone who actually deserves to inspire it, check out @abdulelsayed.bsky.social, a doctor who lives up to what medicine should be about: an insistence that all lives are worthy. Oh, and he’s running to be a U.S. Senator from Michigan.
youtu.be/xhS6_Xoz09g
youtu.be/xhS6_Xoz09g
Reposted by Luke Messac
1/n
Presidents of 5 Universities in Israel call on Israeli government to take action against famine in Gaza, mention the holocaust as an obligation to prevent indiscriminate harm to innocents, use the term 'crimes against humanity'.
Lt - original letter in Hebrew
Rt - my translation to English
Presidents of 5 Universities in Israel call on Israeli government to take action against famine in Gaza, mention the holocaust as an obligation to prevent indiscriminate harm to innocents, use the term 'crimes against humanity'.
Lt - original letter in Hebrew
Rt - my translation to English
July 28, 2025 at 12:27 PM
1/n
Presidents of 5 Universities in Israel call on Israeli government to take action against famine in Gaza, mention the holocaust as an obligation to prevent indiscriminate harm to innocents, use the term 'crimes against humanity'.
Lt - original letter in Hebrew
Rt - my translation to English
Presidents of 5 Universities in Israel call on Israeli government to take action against famine in Gaza, mention the holocaust as an obligation to prevent indiscriminate harm to innocents, use the term 'crimes against humanity'.
Lt - original letter in Hebrew
Rt - my translation to English
Rhode Island passed solid legislation this year on medical debt. Previously one of nation's worst ion medical debt protections. Now the state outlaws wage garnishment for medical debt, capped interest rates on repayment, and banned credit reporting.
www.insidearm.com/news/0009373...
www.insidearm.com/news/0009373...
Rhode Island Enacts Two Laws Regulating Medical Debt - insideARM
On June 26, the governor of Rhode Island signed into law S0169, which amends the state’s deceptive trade practices laws to prohibit credit reporting agencies from reporting a consumer’s medical debt. ...
www.insidearm.com
July 10, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Rhode Island passed solid legislation this year on medical debt. Previously one of nation's worst ion medical debt protections. Now the state outlaws wage garnishment for medical debt, capped interest rates on repayment, and banned credit reporting.
www.insidearm.com/news/0009373...
www.insidearm.com/news/0009373...
Anyone who votes for this reconciliation can never claim to care about medical debt. States that expanded Medicaid after the ACA saw a 50 percent decrease in medical debt. By kicking over 10 million off Medicaid, this bill will reverse many of those gains.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
June 30, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Anyone who votes for this reconciliation can never claim to care about medical debt. States that expanded Medicaid after the ACA saw a 50 percent decrease in medical debt. By kicking over 10 million off Medicaid, this bill will reverse many of those gains.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
At a conference in Oslo last week, a medical student from Gaza showed photos of the textbooks she had to burn to cook amid bombardment. For more on medicine in Gaza, read emergency physician Clayton Dalton in the New Yorker. The ending is gut-wrenching:
www.newyorker.com/newsletter/t...
www.newyorker.com/newsletter/t...
A Doctor on What He Saw in Gaza
From the daily newsletter: a report detailing the wreckage he witnessed.
www.newyorker.com
June 29, 2025 at 8:14 PM
At a conference in Oslo last week, a medical student from Gaza showed photos of the textbooks she had to burn to cook amid bombardment. For more on medicine in Gaza, read emergency physician Clayton Dalton in the New Yorker. The ending is gut-wrenching:
www.newyorker.com/newsletter/t...
www.newyorker.com/newsletter/t...
One of my most inspiring teachers during residency is in the midst of a 25 hour long protest against Medicaid cuts. When I went to visit him at midnight he was surrounded by ED colleagues coming off of shifts. These are people worth following.
turnto10.com/news/local/e...
turnto10.com/news/local/e...
Emergency physician protests healthcare cuts by sitting on State House steps for 25 hours
An emergency physician is making a silent stand for federal cuts to healthcare by sitting on the State House steps for 25 straight hours.From the front lines to
turnto10.com
June 1, 2025 at 5:25 AM
One of my most inspiring teachers during residency is in the midst of a 25 hour long protest against Medicaid cuts. When I went to visit him at midnight he was surrounded by ED colleagues coming off of shifts. These are people worth following.
turnto10.com/news/local/e...
turnto10.com/news/local/e...
The destruction of USAID is the betrayal of a devotion to dignity that crossed party lines. I wrote about the human and spiritual toll in America Magazine:
www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...
www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...
The end of bipartisan support for global AIDS treatment: 20 years of progress is on the line
The longer PEPFAR remains hobbled, the greater the number of patients who will suffer the terrifying consequences of stopped treatment—a kind of reverse Lazarus effect.
www.americamagazine.org
May 16, 2025 at 1:25 AM
The destruction of USAID is the betrayal of a devotion to dignity that crossed party lines. I wrote about the human and spiritual toll in America Magazine:
www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...
www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...
For the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, I wrote about three recent books by @victorroy.bsky.social, Colleen Grogan, and Gardiner Harris and the conquest of medicine by financial logics.
lareviewofbooks.org/article/medi...
lareviewofbooks.org/article/medi...
Medicine and Lucre | Los Angeles Review of Books
While looking at three recent books, physician Luke Messac explains why the public has legitimate reasons to distrust our healthcare system.
lareviewofbooks.org
April 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
For the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, I wrote about three recent books by @victorroy.bsky.social, Colleen Grogan, and Gardiner Harris and the conquest of medicine by financial logics.
lareviewofbooks.org/article/medi...
lareviewofbooks.org/article/medi...
The Questionnaire: Mike Davis | Los Angeles Review of Books
lareviewofbooks.org
March 19, 2025 at 4:35 AM
No one in a major newspaper is documenting the mass murder that Trump is committing better than @stephanienolen.bsky.social. This could be reversed in a moment.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/h...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/h...
Tuberculosis Resurgent as Trump Funding Cut Disrupts Treatment Globally
The United States was the major funder of tuberculosis programs. Now hundreds of thousands of sick patients can’t find tests or drugs, and risk spreading the disease.
www.nytimes.com
March 11, 2025 at 5:39 PM
No one in a major newspaper is documenting the mass murder that Trump is committing better than @stephanienolen.bsky.social. This could be reversed in a moment.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/h...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/h...
I’d been waiting to read this Hochschild book, maybe because it seemed even more dismal than his others (loved them all), but it is time.
www.goodreads.com/book/show/60...
www.goodreads.com/book/show/60...
American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and …
From award-winning, New York Times bestselling historia…
www.goodreads.com
March 11, 2025 at 1:08 AM
I’d been waiting to read this Hochschild book, maybe because it seemed even more dismal than his others (loved them all), but it is time.
www.goodreads.com/book/show/60...
www.goodreads.com/book/show/60...
This is the best explanation I’ve heard of what is happening in higher ed, and what is to come (also, the Boston Globe’s reporting and analysis are just awesome right now):
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/07/m...
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/07/m...
‘His way has to be the model’: Team Trump turns to Hungarian strongman for inspiration on higher ed - The Boston Globe
For American conservatives, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary is willing to do what it takes to reclaim universities from the left.
www.bostonglobe.com
March 7, 2025 at 4:06 PM
This is the best explanation I’ve heard of what is happening in higher ed, and what is to come (also, the Boston Globe’s reporting and analysis are just awesome right now):
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/07/m...
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/07/m...
Reposted by Luke Messac
Remember when the WH insisted that global HIV prevention & treatment was exempt from the freeze? When it seemed MAYBE they understood that cutting off medicine could put the entire planet at risk of drug resistant HIV strains?
Wrong. Elon Musk’s interns were simply shutting payments off manually.
Wrong. Elon Musk’s interns were simply shutting payments off manually.
February 25, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Remember when the WH insisted that global HIV prevention & treatment was exempt from the freeze? When it seemed MAYBE they understood that cutting off medicine could put the entire planet at risk of drug resistant HIV strains?
Wrong. Elon Musk’s interns were simply shutting payments off manually.
Wrong. Elon Musk’s interns were simply shutting payments off manually.
Absolute comic book villainy here. Bono used to talk about “ending stupid deaths.” This administration is just hell-bent on maximizing them.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/h...
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/h...
Emergency Food, TB Tests and H.I.V. Drugs: Vital Health Aid Remains Frozen Despite Court Ruling
The Trump administration appears to be flouting a judge’s order pausing the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D.
www.nytimes.com
February 21, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Absolute comic book villainy here. Bono used to talk about “ending stupid deaths.” This administration is just hell-bent on maximizing them.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/h...
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/h...
Reposted by Luke Messac
Listening in on this mass organizing call -- Cori Bush currently on the line
buildtheresistance.org/BuildingOn50...
buildtheresistance.org/BuildingOn50...
Mass Training Call: Building on 50501
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
BuildTheResistance.org
February 20, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Listening in on this mass organizing call -- Cori Bush currently on the line
buildtheresistance.org/BuildingOn50...
buildtheresistance.org/BuildingOn50...
Trevor Noah’s podcast is really good
February 15, 2025 at 3:10 AM
Trevor Noah’s podcast is really good
Reposted by Luke Messac
There is literally HIV being transmitted from mom to baby because of the illegal shutdown of US AID and now Trump’s State Department wants to spend 400 million dollars on Tesla cyber trucks. This is not about efficiency. It’s a smash and grab.
February 13, 2025 at 2:38 AM
There is literally HIV being transmitted from mom to baby because of the illegal shutdown of US AID and now Trump’s State Department wants to spend 400 million dollars on Tesla cyber trucks. This is not about efficiency. It’s a smash and grab.
Reposted by Luke Messac
Today, @lookheron.bsky.social argues that, if we are lucky, a left-liberal coalition may soon have the chance to build new and better institutions out of the wreckage.
However, unless policy scholars work on developing relatively detailed proposals now, we will squander this opportunity.
However, unless policy scholars work on developing relatively detailed proposals now, we will squander this opportunity.
On Writing Down Our Dreams During a Living Nightmare
When it's time to rebuild from the wreckage of the Trump-Musk rampage, the left may have the opportunity to implement a truly transformative agenda. However, unless we have relatively detailed…
lpeproject.org
February 10, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Today, @lookheron.bsky.social argues that, if we are lucky, a left-liberal coalition may soon have the chance to build new and better institutions out of the wreckage.
However, unless policy scholars work on developing relatively detailed proposals now, we will squander this opportunity.
However, unless policy scholars work on developing relatively detailed proposals now, we will squander this opportunity.
In Stellenbosch a decade ago, my wife and I stayed in a B&B on a street of gated homes with private security. A few miles away were huge shantytowns; the cooks and cleaners boarded buses there each morning. The owner complained he was “too male, too pale” to make it in South Africa.
February 9, 2025 at 2:12 PM
In Stellenbosch a decade ago, my wife and I stayed in a B&B on a street of gated homes with private security. A few miles away were huge shantytowns; the cooks and cleaners boarded buses there each morning. The owner complained he was “too male, too pale” to make it in South Africa.
Those talented lawyers who chose public interest over corporate law are having their moment. One of the orgs filing successful lawsuits against Trump’s illegal actions is the Public Citizen Litigation Group, an arm of the group founded by Ralph Nader in the 70s.
www.citizen.org/about/staff/...
www.citizen.org/about/staff/...
About Public Citizen Litigation Group - Public Citizen
Public Citizen Litigation Group, founded in 1972, is the litigating arm of Public Citizen. A public interest law firm litigating…
www.citizen.org
February 9, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Those talented lawyers who chose public interest over corporate law are having their moment. One of the orgs filing successful lawsuits against Trump’s illegal actions is the Public Citizen Litigation Group, an arm of the group founded by Ralph Nader in the 70s.
www.citizen.org/about/staff/...
www.citizen.org/about/staff/...
Seems like an effective thing to do now, if you’ve got the means, is to donate to groups filing lawsuits to defend us from Trump’s illegal actions. Groups like Democracy Forward, who halted (for now) the federal spending freeze and mass firings.
democracyforward.org
democracyforward.org
Democracy Forward - We go to court for democracy
Democracy depends on a government that works for all people. We fight vigorously in court against abuses of power and attempts to undermine a government that works for people who need it most.
democracyforward.org
February 8, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Seems like an effective thing to do now, if you’ve got the means, is to donate to groups filing lawsuits to defend us from Trump’s illegal actions. Groups like Democracy Forward, who halted (for now) the federal spending freeze and mass firings.
democracyforward.org
democracyforward.org