Category: Health Care

Celebrate Medicare and Medicaid with us! PACG event

7/15/2026

Happy Birthday to Medicare and Medicaid!
Wednesday, July 29th from 4 to 6 pm

Davenport Public Library
Eastern Ave Branch
6000 Eastern AV
Davenport, IA (map)

Healthcare Reform Forum

Join us for cupcakes and ice cream as we express our gratitude for the Medicare and Medicaid programs that turn 61 years old on July 30th. Save the date and invite your friends to this free party sponsored by the PACG Healthcare Reform Forum, the Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans, I owa Citizen Action Network, and others.

Alta Price (she/her)

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Read "A Resistance History of the US"-Of Interest to Our Community

7/4/2026

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A Resistance History of the United States

This is a good book by historian Tad Stoermer that covers the real history of the resistance efforts that helped to build our current understanding of what a democratic republic should be. Here's the review from the publisher:

An urgent, bracing new look at American history that Ava DuVernay calls "deeply necessary for this moment."

Revisit the Salem Witch Trials, the Underground Railroad, and other resistance movements of American history to get a bold new understanding of how resistance shaped our past—and how its principles can change our future.

The United States was shaped by resistance—but not in the way we’ve been taught. The Revolution did not secure liberty; it opened the door to either liberty or oppression, where only white men enjoyed all of the benefits and protections of citizenship.

In A Resistance History of the United States, public historian Tad Stoermer shows how from the very beginning, that tension—between the ideals of resistance and the realities of power—has defined America more than the Enlightenment ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Utililizing powerful storytelling to focus on key—and often lesser-known—moments in American history, this book reveals the truth of how resistance movements from Colonial times have opposed the powers that be. Stoermer covers an impressive roster of pivotal movements, with each chapter identifying a key resistance movement and principle meant to inspire contemporary readers, including:

Bacon’s Rebellion/Metacomet’s War (1676)
Salem Witch Trials (1692)
The Black Loyalists (1783)
The Underground Railroad (1850)

Through these and many more examples, Stoermer dismantles the mythologies that pass for American history—exposing the curated nostalgia, moral evasions, and institutional silences that have long protected abusive power. What emerges is an essential look at how we can take lessons from the past to understand, and effectively respond to, the injustices we face today.

Cliff Day (he/him)

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Read "On Courage"-Of Interest to Our Community

7/4/2026

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On Courage - How to be a Dissident in an Age of Fear

PACG Book Club

As a group, we decide the books we will read throughout the year and On Courage is not on it at this point. However, this is the manual we need now in our resistance and work to regain our progressive values. It's well-written and encouraging in these difficult times. Read the publisher's comments (below) and learn about the authors at this link.

Book Club will not be meeting again until September when we will discuss The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende.

On Courage is...a deeply reported manual about how anyone can defy an authoritarian – based on original interviews with more than 100 dissidents, activists, and theorists across the world.

The United States is only the latest country to face a leader who wields fear as a weapon, punishes political enemies, disappears people off the street, and undermines free and fair elections. Today nearly three out of four people on earth live under authoritarianism, the highest rate since the late 1970s.

But even under repressive conditions, each of us holds the power to help defeat autocrats. Based on their acclaimed The New Yorker essay “So You Want to Be a Dissident?,” veteran reporter Julia Angwin and political strategist Ami Fields-Meyer give us a captivating – and profoundly hopeful – guide to courage in an age of fear.

Meet a student from Hong Kong who risked everything for democracy. A mom in a working-class neighborhood of Caracas who broke with the political movement that raised her. Cairo twentysomethings who staged a gutsy stunt to help bring down a dictator. A mild-mannered immigrant fighting to save a landmark U.S. civil rights law. People throughout the United States and across five continents who faced serious risks for dissenting in their workplace, their community, or their country. On Courage is the story of how they did it anyway – and how you can do it, too.

Blending rich, previously untold narratives with history, spirituality, and movement research, Angwin and Fields-Meyer deliver a highly accessible book full of practical lessons – an inspiring resource for anyone, anywhere, who feels the walls of history closing in on them. On Courage is a roadmap to political courage and a powerful case for how taking personal risks can help save the free world.

Alta Price (she/her)

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Action Alert to Protect Care for Trans Youth

2/11/2026

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Help Protect Care for Trans Youth Action Alert!

Gender Equity Forum

The federal government has proposed new rules that would effectively ban care for trans youth at hospitals across the country. We’re asking our community to make public comments in opposition to the proposed rules. The deadline for public comment is Tuesday, February 17.

You can get help submitting your comments here or here.

Relevant links:

RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz announce moves to ban gender-affirming care for young people

How To Submit Public Comments To Oppose Proposed Rules Restricting Transgender Health Care Access

Human Rights Campaign - Protect Trans Youth Healthcare

David Anderson (he/him)

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Facing the Elder Care Crisis Nov 13 2025

10/18/2025

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Quad City Civic Conversations: Facing The Elder Care Crisis
Thursday, November 13, 2025 at 5:30 pm

Davenport Public Library
Eastern Avenue Branch
6000 Eastern Avenue
Davenport, IA (map)

QC Civic Conversations

The program will focus on the importance of quality affordable elder care. Currently, there are significant challenges due to the lack of funding. Please join us for this informative panel presentation featuring experts in the field.

Gail Karp

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PACG Die-In PACG History

8/26/2025

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PACG Trivia Contest!

Anniversary Planning Committee

As part of our upcoming 20th Anniversary Gala the evening of Sunday, October 19th, we will be playing PACG Trivia. To give you all a head start (as well as a nostalgic look back at some of our past events), we will have regular Progressive Action Update (PAU) posts about a past event, action or concern.

Here's the next in this series:

Question: What was the PACG Die In and why did we organize that?

Answer: Our Health Care Reform Forum and Campaign for Better Health Care (CBHC) wanted to bring attention to the fact that Health Care is a Moral Value. People die if they don't have access to quality, affordable healthcare.

Read our Die In announcement email here for more details on the event.

Watch our Die In video here.

Read our planning email here.

Read some of the aftermath of our event in an After Action Report email here.

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Healthcare Reform Forum legislative visit - After Action Report

5/27/2025

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Visit to Miller-Meeks office about Medicaid cuts - After Action Report

Healthcare Reform Forum

We met with Miller-Meeks staff about our concerns about the proposed Medicaid cuts to support tax breaks for billionaires. We presented the staff with facts and figures about the consequences of funding cuts, including costs to the state (Iowa), loss of coverage for people enrolled in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) due to Medicaid expansion, and loss of rural hospitals and providers.

Rael Slavensky (he/him)

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Healthcare Reform Forum legislative visit - After Action Report

5/21/2025

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Healthcare Reform Forum legislative visit After Action Report

Healthcare Reform Forum

PACG's Healthcare Reform Forum met with staff at US Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks' staff in Davenport on May 19th. We expressed our concerns about the proposed Medicaid cuts to support tax breaks for billionaires. We had a productive meeting and plan to do this again in the near future.

Rael Slavensky

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Healthcare Reform Forum legislative visit - After Action Report

5/15/2025

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Meeting with legislators After Action Report

Healthcare Reform Forum

On May 6th forum members participated in meetings at both Senators Grassley's and Ernst's offices in Davenport about potential cuts to Medicaid. We presented the staff with facts and figures about the consequences of funding cuts, including costs to the state (Iowa), loss of coverage for people enrolled in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) due to Medicaid expansion, and loss of rural hospitals and providers.

Rael Slavensky

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The Reality of Project 2025-Of Interest to Our Community

4/29/2025

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The Reality of Project 2025

Red Wine and Blue

A grassroots organization Red Wine & Blue has been keeping track of the implementation of 2025 projects. They also provide recommendations on how we can fight back. For more information go here,

You can contact them or subscribe to their email update here,

Red Wine & Blue

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<<Previous

Celebrate Medicare and Medicaid with us! PACG event

Happy Birthday to Medicare and Medicaid!
Wednesday, July 29th from 4 to 6 pm

Read "A Resistance History of the US"-Of Interest to Our Community

Read "On Courage"-Of Interest to Our Community

On Courage - How to be a Dissident in an Age of Fear

Action Alert to Protect Care for Trans Youth

Help Protect Care for Trans Youth Action Alert!

Facing the Elder Care Crisis Nov 13 2025

Quad City Civic Conversations: Facing The Elder Care Crisis
Thursday, November 13, 2025 at 5:30 pm

PACG Die-In PACG History

PACG Trivia Contest!

Healthcare Reform Forum legislative visit - After Action Report

Visit to Miller-Meeks office about Medicaid cuts - After Action Report

Healthcare Reform Forum legislative visit - After Action Report

Healthcare Reform Forum legislative visit After Action Report

Healthcare Reform Forum legislative visit - After Action Report

Meeting with legislators After Action Report

The Reality of Project 2025-Of Interest to Our Community

The Reality of Project 2025

Archives

Categories

Happy Birthday to Medicare and Medicaid! Wednesday, July 29th from 4 to 6 pm

On Courage - How to be a Dissident in an Age of Fear

Help Protect Care for Trans Youth Action Alert!

Quad City Civic Conversations: Facing The Elder Care CrisisThursday, November 13, 2025 at 5:30 pm

PACG Trivia Contest!

Visit to Miller-Meeks office about Medicaid cuts - After Action Report

Healthcare Reform Forum legislative visit After Action Report

Meeting with legislators After Action Report

The Reality of Project 2025

Archives

Categories

Happy Birthday to Medicare and Medicaid!
Wednesday, July 29th from 4 to 6 pm

Quad City Civic Conversations: Facing The Elder Care Crisis
Thursday, November 13, 2025 at 5:30 pm