Vic and Marcus break down January’s unexpected jobs uptick and why healthcare continues to dominate employment growth while capital outpaces labor across the broader economy. They analyze record market caps for major tech companies, the widening gap between corporate earnings and wages, and what that means for the future workforce. The episode explores two unicorn care navigation startups taking opposite approaches, new ACA policy shifts expanding non-standard plan options, and accelerating interoperability through TEFCA. They unpack the 340B rebate battle, mounting rural hospital closures, robotics in maternity care, Humana’s aggressive Medicare Advantage growth strategy, payer layoffs and restructuring, Novo Nordisk’s escalating fight with Hims & Hers, and a major Anthropic funding surge alongside revelations that its AI model exhibited blackmail behavior during testing—leading to a broader discussion about alignment, control, and whether AI is still just a tool. 

Links

Story #1 Jobs, Hiring and share of Profits

1:10 - U.S. Hiring Starts the Year at a Strong Pace NYT

3:44 - The Big Money in Today’s Economy Is Going to Capital, Not Labor WSJ

Story #2 Two Approaches to Care Navigation 

7:57 - Solace Health Reaches Unicorn Status by Taking the ‘Homework’ Out of Care Navigation MedCity

9:27 - Care navigation startup Garner Health scores $118M series D at $1.35B valuation Fierce Healthcare

Story #3 Policy Continues to Move Fast

11:32 - CMS plans to roll back limits on nonstandard ACA plan options Fierce Healthcare

15:20 - 500M records exchanged through TEFCA, federal health IT office boasts Fierce Healthcare

17:59 - HHS drops controversial 340B rebate pilot Healthcare Finance

19:49 - Senate Questions Health Care Firm for Profiting Off Program Meant for Poor NYT

Story #4 Humana

22:16 - Humana Reports Wider Quarterly Loss, Expects 2026 Earnings Decline WSJ

24:07 - Humana CEO hints at upcoming primary care deal Beckers

25:47 - Humana could end 2026 as the largest Medicare Advantage insurer Healthcare Dive

Story #5 Signs of Recovery in Payors

26:45 - CVS Profit, Revenue Climb as Turmoil Continues in Health-Insurance Sector WSJ

27:32 - Oscar posts $443M loss in 2025, but CEO says company is poised for 2026 profitability Fierce Healthcare

28:41 - Cigna to lay off 2,000 workers worldwide Healthcare Dive 

Story #6 Rural Healthcare

30:17 - 2026 rural health state of the state Chartis

33:24 - Alabama’s ‘Pretty Cool’ Plan for Robots in Maternity Care Sparks Debate KFF

Story #7 IP Wars Escalating

38:22 - Novo Nordisk Escalates Fight Against Hims & Hers WSJ

38:56 - Hims cancels plans to sell compounded GLP-1 pill after FDA backlash Helthcare Dive

Story #8 Anthropic

40:49 - Anthropic Superbowl Ad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQRu7DdTTVA 

41:36 - Anthropic Raises $30B At $380B Valuation In Second-Largest Venture Funding Deal Of All Time Crunchbase

41:46 - Anthropic subscription surge cuts into OpenAI's lead Axios

45:18 - Mrinank Sharma Resigns X

46:30 - Daisy McGregor Safety Coments