Dear Friends,
Retired Des Moines psychiatrist, Pat Bertroche, knows a thing or two about mental health care. In our conversation this week, Pat speaks passionately about a bill (HF 294) to require insurance companies to reimburse virtual mental health care visits at the same rate as in-person visits. The bill passed the Iowa House with only one dissenting vote. Yet with the powerful insurance industry opposed, the effort has stalled in the Senate.
Pat Bertroche
I appreciate Pat’s expertise on mental health. He also speaks from his professional perspective about the importance of taking COVID-19 seriously — a position that puts him at odds with many Trump voters I’ve interviewed.
So, when our conversation rolls around to the climate emergency, I’m mystified at Pat’s rejection of the consensus supported by 97 percent of all climate scientists. If one trusts the experts when it comes to human health, why not trust them when it comes to the health of our planet? I hope you’ll give the program a listen (yeah, that’s poor grammar, but fun to say) and share your feedback.
Oh, and one more point of interest: Pat voted for Trump in 2016 but not in 2020. His reasons are interesting.
Also on this week’s program I speak about marriage equality with Evan Wolfson, who was instrumental years ago in the national push to end marriage discrimination against gay and lesbian people. That conversation starts at about the 18-minute mark.
I also talk with Angela de Prairie and Ben King of Iowa Physicians for Social Responsibility about nuclear power, which they argue is not the solution to the climate emergency. It’s an excellent conversation and starts at 29:43.
At 41:21, Mark Clipsham and I analyze America’s true religion: endless economic growth. Will President Biden begin to change the paradigm, or is that too much to hope for?
Finally, I discuss my love affair with the potato — not the famous spud formerly known as Potato Head, but the real thing. Reminder: Good Friday is the day upper-Midwesterners (and the Irish) plant our potatoes. Kathy and I have over 400 to sow. Should be a busy day.
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(01:38) Pat Bertroche: Physician, psychiatrist, Trump voter
(17:56) Marriage equality, with Evan Wolfson
(29:43) Nuclear power not the solution to climate emergency, with Angela de Prairie and Ben King, Iowa Physicians for Social Responsibility
(41:21) Critiquing the endless growth economy paradigm, with Mark Clipsham
(55:43) My love affair with the potato
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Ed Fallon