International Healthcare Executive Andy Thorburn Backs Medicare for All, Hammers Royce for Exacerbating America’s “Failed” and “Corrupt” Healthcare System
ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Days after winning his first endorsement from an organization representing working families, today former classroom teacher, workers’ rights advocate and Democratic businessman, Andy Thorburn, released a new digital video ad, titled “Overhaul,” in his challenge to Republican Congressman Ed Royce in the race for California’s 39th District.
The ad, “Overhaul,” highlights Thorburn’s background as a health insurance executive and his support for healthcare for all through Medicare for all. In it, Thorburn calls America’s healthcare system “polluted and corrupted” while slamming Rep. Royce for taking big money from pharmaceutical and insurance industries and then voting to eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions as well as leaving millions of American’s uninsured.
Just days ago Thorburn threw his hat in the ring as a candidate for CA-39.
In launching his campaign, Thorburn released a new digital video ad, titled “Cell Doors,” that highlights his background as a classroom teacher and workers rights advocate, including his time in jail for helping to lead a movement and a strike that ultimately led to better wages and fair treatment for workers. The ad hit digital airways beginning August 1st and is continuing to run throughout this week across the 39th District on Facebook.
Andy Thorburn is a Democrat, a businessman, a nonprofit founder, a former classroom teacher and an advocate for working people. He has worked as an educator, union organizer, and entrepreneur, and at each phase in his life, he has prioritized the principle that any organization – a country or a company – gets the best results if it treats its people fairly, with dignity, and holds itself to a standard of excellence.
Thorburn was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in New Jersey along with his two brothers.
After college, Thorburn started his career in public service as a high school teacher in Newark, New Jersey. His leadership abilities were recognized almost immediately, and he was elected to a senior position in the local chapter of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Also while teaching, Thorburn attended graduate school at Jersey City University.
Everything changed in Thorburn’s life in 1970, when he and other classroom teachers led a strike for better wages, better benefits, and better working conditions. Andy was jailed for the strike, along with numerous other teachers, but won the battle for livable wages, fair treatment for workers, and smaller classroom sizes.
After leaving the classroom, Thorburn founded a small business that specialized in selling insurance to working families, particularly classroom teachers. This launched a truly remarkable career in business and philanthropy that has led to him creating hundreds of jobs, and providing retirement security to countless Americans at home and abroad. Today Thorburn leads the international company Global Benefits Group and he’s also the founder of the Global Benefits Group Foundation – a nonprofit that provides innovative new methods of financing, like microloans, to those who need them the most.
Thorburn has been married to his wife Karen, for 36 years, and they have two children together, both of which they adopted as infants. Andy and Karen live in Orange County, where they have lived for the past 18 years.
For more information please visit: www.ThorburnForCongress.com.