The Brandeis Adult Learning Institute (BALI) invited former Massachusetts governor and 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis to speak about American Health insurance on May 12 in the Shapiro theater.Titled "The Uninsured: Forty-Four Million...and Counting," Dukakis' presentation focused on several aspects of health insurance, including its history, its importance to Dukakis and his critique of the current government's approach to it.

"Here we are in 2004 nearing a new election and 44 million Americans who are working aren't on health insurance," Dukakis said. "When they get tired they can go to a community health center like the one here [at Brandeis]. But if there is none, they end up in the emergency room simply popping $1,000."

Currently a distinguished professor of political science at Northeastern University, Dukakis emphasized that while his talk related to current presidential campaign issues, his aim was not to endorse a candidate.

Dukakis said he wanted to educate the public about what to him is a critical issue.

"I'm not here to lobby, but this is an issue which must have attention," Dukakis said. "With regards to the presidential candidates, [John] Kerry's plan, while not going as far as I would have liked, goes well beyond the joke plan in the Bush administration."

Dukakis also outlined the history of healthcare, dating as far back as the German statesman Otto von Bismarck and his own domestic initiatives. According to Dukakis, Bismarck, although a conservative, "fought to give broad social insurance." Dukakis said that in America, the debates over the issue began in 1912 with Theodore Roosevelt supporting it as part of his platform.

"Budding on what happened in Europe, states like Massachusetts began advocating for broad-based social insurance with not only health insurance but also paying for workers who were inactive due to disabilities," Dukakis said. "In the past 45 years, employers had to pay for disabilities and old age with Social Security and this would not put anyone at a disadvantage because everyone was in the same position."

Dukakis noted one famous saying coined by former New York governor Mario Cuomo about proposed bills.

"If you can't explain it to your mother, don't send it to the Senate," he cited Cuomo as saying.

To him, this philosophy prevented many from accepting healthcare plans from being passed simply because they were too difficult to explain. Because of this, according to Dukakis, President Kennedy wanted to reform Nixon's plan.

"President Kennedy, who if alive today would tell you, that his biggest mistake was reforming the Nixon healthcare plan," Dukakis said. "It wasn't until Clinton in 1993 that we got a plan close to that one and we all know what happened to it. It was much too complicated."

One of the former governor's main achievements during his term was his own healthcare campaign. According to Dukakis, one of the more upsetting events after having left office was the decline in concern for healthcare.

"What worries me is that while working like a dog to pass [healthcare insurance] as governor, after I left I saw that it wasn't fully locked in and that really hurts," Dukakis said.

BALI director Sharon Sokoloff, who organized the event, agreed with Dukakis. She added that his visit proved interesting not only because of his own presence, but also because his topic was one of interest to BALI members.

"We've had other political people, journalists, policy people speak on many topics, often health care policy related," Sokoloff said. "So his talk addressed a major issue that BALI members are interested in and, in doing so, achieved our goals of informing and engaging our members and in this case, the Brandeis community as well."

Mark Samburg '07 said that he enjoyed the talk and it even inspired him to attend more sessions that BALI might offer in the future.

"I thought that the event was very well run, highly informative and on the whole a very enjoyable hour," Samburg said. "It was my first experience with a BALI event, but if they are all that good, I will certainly attend many more."

According to the BALI mission statement, its primary objective is to "provide a broad range of educational activities and intellectual stimulation as a Brandeis University program for retired and semi-retired persons and other adult learners." To Sokoloff, the event directly achieved this goal.

"We want our members to learn about important, timely, interesting things," Sokoloff said. "We wanted to make his talk available to the entire campus.