Single payer healthcare has been a hot topic since the great healthcare debates of 2009 and 2010, but the organization, Physicians for a National Health Program, has advocated for a single payer system since 1987. The National Coordinator for the program, Dr. Quentin Young, spoke with Uprising host Sonali Kolhatkar on February 13, 2012.

Being one of the founding members of the group is only one of many distinctions in Dr. Young’s storied career. Dr. Quentin Young was a founding member of the Medical Committee for Human Rights in 1964 and volunteered to provide medical care to civil rights protesters in Mississippi during Freedom Summer. He was a personal physician to Martin Luther King Jr and helped the Black Panthers and the Young Lords set up medical clinics in their communities. Dr. Young also provided medical care to protesters injured by police at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago where 23,000 police officers were dispatched to quell protests. He is a personal friend of President Barack Obama with whom he disagrees on the need for single payer healthcare. Visit www.pnhp.org for more information.

Watch a video of the interview here:

Martina Steiner recorded this interview.