Embracing “Good Trouble”
The Justice Center of Rensselaer County is dedicated to achieving equality for all.
The Robert J. Doherty Memorial Lecture on Healthcare Justice, Wednesday March 12, 2025 @ Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, NY. Keynote by John Baackes, retired CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan.
John Baackes calls it a “code blue” for American healthcare—don’t miss this urgent discussion on justice and reform in the Capital Region and beyond!
On Wednesday, March 12 at 7 p.m., The Justice Center of Rensselaer County hosted its third annual Robert J. Doherty Memorial Lecture, titled “Healthcare Justice » Diagnosis: Code Blue,” delivered by John Baackes, recently retired CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan, America’s largest publicly operated health plan with 2.6 million members in Los Angeles County.
With 48 years in managed healthcare, Baackes explored the intersecting crises facing our healthcare system—from local disputes like CDPHP’s clashes with St. Peter’s and Albany Med, to the near closure of Troy’s Burdett Birth Center, to national threats like Medicaid cuts and the rise of profit-driven insurance. He’ll propose solutions, including more public health plans like those in California, and address why even doctors struggle to navigate today’s complex system.
A robust Q&A session follows the lecture (@ 50 mins), including a question from NYS Assemblyman John McDonald.
Letter to the Editor: Should DEC be ‘defunded’ in wake of Dunn landfill permit renewal?
Bob Blackmon, Troy When I was a department chair at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in the 1980s and '90s, I had rather close contact with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, and I had high regard for and confidence in that...
The Robert J. Doherty Memorial Lecture on Environmental Justice, Sunday April 14, 2024 @ University at Albany School of Public Health, Rensselaer, NY. Keynote by Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics.
In 2020, the Justice Center of Rensselaer County, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was created to achieve equality and promote a welcoming and diverse community by addressing persistent and structural prejudice in the political, economic, educational, and social systems in the county.
