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April 30, 2026 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM EDT

Vital Lessons on Medical Debt and Healthcare Affordability: Solutions You Can Use Now

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About This Webinar

Many Americans are facing a growing challenge that extends beyond any one of us: the rising cost of healthcare. New survey data from AFT members reveals the real impact of medical debt—including delayed or forgone care—and what it means for our collective well-being and our communities.

Join Dr. Vin Gupta, a leading public health expert and pulmonologist, in conversation with AFT President Randi Weingarten and special guests Dr. Monica Soni, Chief Medical Officer at Covered California, and an AFT member for a timely discussion on healthcare affordability in America.

Together, they’ll explore the connection between medical debt and health outcomes, share key findings from AFT’s latest survey and examine what can be done to improve access to affordable, high-quality care.

This webinar will also highlight resources from AFT’s Fight for Affordability campaign and Share My Lesson’s affordability collection, offering practical insights and tools to help educators navigate these challenges and support their communities.

Join the conversation and gain a clearer understanding of how affordability impacts health—and what steps can make a difference.

This session is part of AFT’s Vital Lessons webinar series, bringing timely, trusted and practical health and wellness conversations to members in education, healthcare and public services.

Missed a Vital Lessons webinar? Access all sessions for free: https://webinars.on24.com/aft/VitalLessons

Speakers

Dr. S. Monica Soni

Chief Medical Officer, Covered California

Dr. S. Monica Soni (she/her) is the Chief Medical Officer at Covered California, leading the organization’s Health Equity and Quality Transformation division. She is working to improve the health of Covered California enrollees and the quality and affordability of care for all Californians. She is a board-certified internal medicine physician with more than a decade of experience working in both inpatient and outpatient settings and continues to see patients. She is an Associate Professor within the UCLA Department of Medicine and the Charles R. Drew University Department of Internal Medicine. Prior to joining Covered California, Dr. Soni served as Associate Chief Medical Officer within Evolent Health focused on the delivery of high-quality, cost-effective specialty care for the over 16 million supported Medicaid lives across the United States. Dr. Soni also served as the Director of Specialty Care for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, the second-largest municipal health system in the United States. She graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School and completed residency at the University of California, San Francisco.

Profile picture for user Randi Weingarten
President, AFT

RANDI WEINGARTEN is president of the 1.8 million-member AFT, AFL-CIO, which represents teachers; paraprofessionals and school-related personnel; higher education faculty and staff; nurses and other healthcare professionals; local, state and federal government employees; and early childhood educators. The AFT champions fairness; democracy; economic opportunity; and high-quality public education, healthcare and public services for students, their families and communities. The AFT and its members advance these principles through community engagement, organizing, collective bargaining and political activism, and especially through members’ work.

Profile picture for user vinnie.gup
Public Health Physician, Professor, and Health Policy Expert

Dr. Vin Gupta, MD, MPA, is a public health physician, professor, and health policy expert. As a Harvard-trained lung specialist, Vin has spent the past 15 years working worldwide to improve public health for organizations including the US Centers for Disease Control, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the Harvard Global Health Institute, the World Health Organization, and the Pentagon’s Center for Global Health Engagement. Given his diversity of experiences, he is now a trusted advisor and contributor to national and international media outlets on several of the most important health issues today, including serving as a regular health policy analyst for NBC News and contributor to the New York Times and CNN New Day. As you will see below, Vin is committed to voicing evidence-informed perspectives across a range of critical issues like domestic US healthcare reform, the vaping epidemic, the effects of climate change on human health, and gun control. In doing so, he speaks honestly and is driven by evidence, not opinion or dogma.

Professional Credit

Share My Lesson webinars are available for one-hour of PD credit. A certificate of completion will be available for download at the end of your session that you can submit for your school's or district's approval.

In addition, Share My Lesson has arrangements in place as follows:

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