Ady Barkan was a lawyer and activist who fought to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system in favor of a single-payer system, continuing his advocacy even after being diagnosed with ALS in 2016.
- Died: November 1, 2023 (Who else died on November 1?)
- Details of death: Died in Santa Barbara, California, from complications of ALS at the age of 39.
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Ady Barkan’s legacy
Born Ohad Barkan but better known as Ady, Barkan graduated cum laude from Columbia College, then earned his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School. He worked on immigrant rights as an attorney in New York – his parents were immigrants from Romania and Israel – and then clerked in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He took up activism when he worked for the Center for Popular Democracy and later developed the Fed Up campaign.
In 2016, Barkan was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and his healthcare activism expanded to include campaigning for the U.S. to adopt a single-payer healthcare system. In 2017, with cuts being threatened to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, Barkan had a chance encounter with then U.S. Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona. Barkan asked Flake to vote against the cuts, telling him, “You can save my life.” Flake voted for the cuts.
Barkan developed the Be a Hero campaign to advocate for candidates who support healthcare reforms in the U.S. As his condition worsened, Barkan testified before Congress in 2019 using an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device. His advocacy earned him widespread accolades. He was named among the 50 most influential American Jews by Forward, the Top 50 Political Thinkers of 2016 by Politico, Time’s 100 Most Influential People list in 2020, and more. In 2019, he published a biography, “Eyes to the Wind: A Memoir of Love and Death, Hope and Resistance.” The 2021 documentary “Not Going Quietly” chronicled his activism.
On asking Congress not to cut Medicare and Medicaid
“You can save my life. Please. Please remember this conversation.”—from a December 2017 interaction with Sen. Jeff Flake
Tributes to Ady Barkan
Full obituary: The New York Times
