In this week’s episode of Medicine: The Truth, hosts Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl go in search of the facts beneath healthcare’s biggest headlines. Today’s show opens with one of the hottest and least understood medical topics: experimental peptides.

Pearl explains that an FDA advisory committee narrowly recommended allowing compounding pharmacies to provide six experimental peptides to patients. This is not the same as traditional FDA approval. Rather than reviewing a drug through the usual three-phase clinical trial process, the recommendation would allow suppliers to provide peptide ingredients that compounding pharmacies could use to fill prescriptions.

Pearl then explains why this distinction matters. If the FDA follows the committee’s recommendation, many patients may assume the peptides have been vetted like other approved medications. He warns that this could leave the nation in a medical gray zone, with broad access but little rigorous evidence on safety, effectiveness, dosing or long-term risk.

The episode then turns to several follow-up stories and new medical developments, including the cyclospora outbreak, CDC leadership, pediatric e-bike injuries, AI-designed viruses, Ebola, mRNA flu vaccines and the continuing politicization of vaccine policy:

The episode closes with Pearl’s strongest warning: medical decisions made on politics rather than science lead to harm. He points to President Trump’s executive order changing childhood vaccine recommendations and encouraging separation of the MMR vaccine into individual measles, mumps and rubella shots.

Pearl says there is no scientific evidence supporting the president’s claim that the combined MMR vaccine may be dangerous, while numerous studies show it is safe, effective and lifesaving. His conclusion: when scientific evidence is overwhelming, leaders need a compelling scientific reason to deviate from it. Whether the subject is experimental peptides, AI-designed viruses, mRNA vaccines or childhood immunization, medicine cannot protect patients if politics replaces data.

Tune in to hear the full discussion and subscribe to Medicine: The Truth for more fact-based analysis of the medical, scientific and policy stories shaping American healthcare.

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Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of “ChatGPT, MD: How AI-Empowered Patients & Doctors Can Take Back Control of American Medicine” about the impact of AI on the future of medicine.

Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Spotify or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on X and LinkedIn.

The post MTT #110: Peptides, politics & the perils of medicine without evidence appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

In this week’s episode of Medicine: The Truth, hosts Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl dig for the facts beneath healthcare’s biggest headlines. Today’s show opens with the issue most likely to shape how Americans think about healthcare heading into the midterm elections: affordability.

Dr. Pearl explains that medical costs have now reached $5.7 trillion, rising more than 7% for the third consecutive year. Federal actuaries project that healthcare spending could approach $9 trillion by 2034, accounting for more than 20% of the U.S. GDP. For voters, employers, patients and families, those numbers aren’t just an endless string of zeroes. They’re impacting everyday life.

Premiums, deductibles, copays and prescription drug costs are forcing people with private insurance, Medicare and exchange coverage to delay care, take on debt or choose worse coverage. Two major drivers stand out: hospital spending and drug costs. Hospital care remains the largest share of national healthcare expenses, while drug spending is rising fastest, driven in part by the growing use of GLP-1 medications. Pearl sees enormous potential in these drugs to improve health and reduce complications over time, but only if prices fall low enough for the long-term savings to justify the near-term expense.

That tension becomes clearer in the discussion of Medicare’s new GLP-1 pilot program for weight loss. Under the “bridge program,” eligible Medicare enrollees will be able to obtain GLP-1 medications for $50 a month, far below current retail prices. Pearl calls the program an important experiment, but also notes its limitations: coverage is not automatic, eligibility is restricted, administrative hurdles remain and the pilot may end after 18 months. If patients lose access and regain weight, the program could fail despite the promise of the medication.

The episode then moves into several unusual and important stories, including new research into the origins of life, the medical risks of cannibalism, the promise and limitations of wearable health data, a large cyclosporiasis outbreak, rising e-bike injuries among children and adolescents, a new cholesterol-lowering pill, CDC leadership and measles.

Here are the major storylines from episode 109:

The episode closes with a broader reflection on Season 11 of Fixing Healthcare. Pearl notes that the concerns raised by guests with large public followings are often different from the priorities emphasized by clinicians and national medical societies. Most Americans are not asking for unreasonable things. They want healthcare that is easier to access, affordable for their families and personalized to their circumstances. That gap, Pearl argues, may change how patients use technology. Large language models such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are available 24/7, provide information at no additional cost and become more personalized as patients share more details. While many doctors worry that hospitals or insurers will replace them with AI, Pearl sees a different threat emerging: patients at home, frustrated by delays, high costs and feeling unheard, turning to generative AI because the healthcare system has not met their needs.

Tune in to hear the full discussion and subscribe to Medicine: The Truth for more fact-based analysis of the medical, scientific and policy stories shaping American healthcare.

* * *

Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of “ChatGPT, MD: How AI-Empowered Patients & Doctors Can Take Back Control of American Medicine” about the impact of AI on the future of medicine.

Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Spotify or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on X and LinkedIn.

The post MTT #109: Healthcare affordability, GLP-1s and the patient revolt ahead appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

In this week’s episode of Medicine: The Truth, hosts Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl probe the facts beneath healthcare’s biggest headlines. Today’s show opens with a scientific breakthrough that could change the future of inherited disease: a new gene-editing technique that may allow researchers to correct DNA errors in human embryos with far greater precision than earlier CRISPR approaches.

Dr. Pearl explains that the advance, developed by researchers at Columbia University, uses a method called base editing. Unlike traditional CRISPR, which cuts out and replaces sections of DNA, base editing can alter individual nucleotides (the “letters” that make up genetic code). The difference, Pearl says, is comparable to moving from rewriting entire pages of text to correcting a single wrong letter inside a single word.

The promise is extraordinary. For families affected by one of the thousands of rare genetic diseases caused by single DNA errors, this technology could one day make it possible to prevent devastating inherited conditions before birth. Children who otherwise might face blindness, severe disability or premature death could instead be born free of the genetic defect.

But the ethical concerns are equally profound. The same technology that could prevent horrific disease could also be used to modify embryos for non-medical traits. Pearl warns that this possibility raises fears about “designer babies,” eugenics, private-sector incentives and the lack of federally funded oversight for embryo research in the United States.

Here are the other major storylines from episode 108:

Tune in to hear the full discussion and subscribe to Medicine: The Truth for more fact-based analysis of the medical, scientific and policy stories shaping American healthcare.

* * *

Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of “ChatGPT, MD: How AI-Empowered Patients & Doctors Can Take Back Control of American Medicine” about the impact of AI on the future of medicine.

Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Spotify or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on X and LinkedIn.

The post MTT #108: Designer babies, chronic disease & AI-powered care appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

In this week’s episode of Medicine: The Truth, hosts Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl probe the facts beneath healthcare’s biggest headlines. Today’s show examines the accelerating progress of generative AI, the political turmoil inside America’s leading health agencies and the infectious disease threats testing the nation’s public health readiness.

The conversation opens with a listener question about how close generative AI is to matching clinicians. Dr. Pearl explains that the technology is advancing faster than he predicted in ChatGPT, MD, with recent research showing an OpenAI model outperforming experienced physicians on emergency room triage and management in text-based clinical cases. He cautions that medicine is more complicated than written scenarios but argues that the trajectory is clear: before today’s incoming medical students finish training, generative AI tools are likely to be used in emergency rooms across the country

From there, the episode turns to the resignation of former FDA commissioner and Dr. Marty Makary, a two-time Fixing Healthcare guest. Pearl describes Makary as a respected clinician and patient-safety expert who found himself caught between scientific rigor, political pressure, industry opposition and public health critics. His departure, along with other leadership upheaval at FDA, CDC, NIH and HHS, raises a larger concern about whether America’s once-trusted scientific agencies can regain their independence and credibility.

Here are the other major storylines from episode 107:

Tune in for more fact-based analysis and practical perspective on the healthcare policies, technologies and trends shaping medicine today.

* * *

Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of “ChatGPT, MD: How AI-Empowered Patients & Doctors Can Take Back Control of American Medicine” about the impact of AI on the future of medicine.

Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Spotify or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on X and LinkedIn.

The post MTT #107: How politics is weakening America’s public health defenses appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

In this week’s episode of Medicine: The Truth, hosts Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl probe the facts beneath healthcare biggest headlines. Today’s show features an in-depth look at sweeping federal budget cuts, the expanding (and often misunderstood) impact of GLP-1 medications and what’s destabilizing health coverage.

The conversation opens with a stark warning. Dr. Pearl reviews the president’s proposed 2027 budget, which includes a $15.8 billion reduction in healthcare spending. He explains why cuts to Medicaid, NIH research and global health programs could have consequences that extend far beyond the next fiscal year, potentially slowing innovation, increasing patient risk and shifting costs to states and families.

From there, the episode turns to one of the most asked-about topics from listeners: GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. While these medications clearly produce meaningful weight loss and improve outcomes in conditions tied to obesity, Dr. Pearl cautions that many of the broader health claims attributed to them may simply reflect the benefits of weight loss itself, not unique properties of the drugs.

Throughout the episode, an underlying truth: scientific progress continues but policy decisions, pricing dynamics and system design may limit who benefits (and at what cost).

Here are the other major storylines from episode 106:

Tune in for more fact-based analysis and practical perspective on the healthcare policies, technologies and trends shaping medicine today.

* * *

Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of “ChatGPT, MD: How AI-Empowered Patients & Doctors Can Take Back Control of American Medicine” about the impact of AI on the future of medicine.

Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Spotify or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on X and LinkedIn.

The post MTT #106: Trump’s 2027 budget & the other threats to U.S. healthcare appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

In this week’s episode of Medicine: The Truth, hosts Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl balance two sides of American healthcare: the encouraging scientific advances that could help people live longer and healthier lives, and the growing affordability and trust crises threatening patients across the country.

The conversation opens on an optimistic note. Dr. Pearl highlights new Yale research showing that aging is far less deterministic than many Americans assume. Rather than a steady and unavoidable decline, the study found that nearly half of adults over 65 improved physically, cognitively or both over a 12-year period.

He pairs that story with new cardiovascular guidance from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, which shifts prevention toward a much longer time horizon and argues that earlier LDL management could prevent a significant share of heart attacks and strokes later in life.

The episode then pivots to the mounting financial and institutional pressures facing patients, hospitals and public-health agencies. From rising medical debt and medication nonadherence to declining vaccine trust, hospital cost inflation and the political barriers keeping GLP-1 drugs unaffordable in the United States, the discussion captures both the promise and the fragility of healthcare in 2026.

Here are the other major storylines from episode 105:

Tune in for more fact-based analysis and practical perspective on the healthcare stories shaping medicine today.

* * *

Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of “ChatGPT, MD: How AI-Empowered Patients & Doctors Can Take Back Control of American Medicine” about the impact of AI on the future of medicine.

Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Spotify or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on X and LinkedIn.

The post MTT #105: New science on aging, rising medical debt & healthcare’s fax problem appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

In this week’s episode of Medicine: The Truth, hosts Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl unpack a wide range of developments shaping healthcare in America today, including the TrumpRx drug discount program.

From new legislation affecting telehealth and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to the rapid spread of measles and growing public concern about vaccine policy, this month’s discussion highlights the policy decisions and scientific debates influencing medicine right now.

The episode opens with the latest federal legislation passed to avert a government shutdown. While healthcare was not the central focus of this particular political battle, the bill contains several provisions that affect medical practice. These include extensions for telehealth coverage and hospital-at-home programs, reforms targeting PBM transparency and new requirements designed to address “ghost networks” in Medicare Advantage provider directories.

Dr. Pearl explains that while these provisions represent incremental progress, they are unlikely to solve the larger problems driving healthcare costs and access challenges in the United States.

Here are the other major storylines from episode 104:

As the episode concludes, Dr. Pearl warns that growing political conflict around vaccines and biomedical research risks undermining public trust in science. The consequences, he argues, could shape American medicine for decades to come.

Tune in for more fact-based analysis and discussion of the biggest stories in healthcare.

* * *

Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of the new book “ChatGPT, MD: How AI-Empowered Patients & Doctors Can Take Back Control of American Medicine” about the impact of AI on the future of medicine.

Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Spotify or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on Twitter and LinkedIn

The post MTT #104: TrumpRx, rising measles cases & the politics of vaccine science appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

In this week’s episode of Medicine: The Truth, hosts Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl examine a sweeping set of developments shaping American healthcare. From the first state-approved use of generative AI to prescribe medications without human oversight to rising healthcare costs, from worsening vaccine misinformation to the stubborn persistence of preventable disease, this show focuses on biggest stories in medicine today.

The episode opens with a groundbreaking and controversial pilot program in Utah that allows a generative AI system to renew prescriptions for chronic disease without physician involvement.

From there, the conversation turns to the relentless rise in healthcare spending. New federal data show Americans now spend more than $15,700 per person annually on medical care, with costs growing twice as fast as the economy.

While insurance coverage remains high for now, Pearl warns that expiring subsidies, Medicaid restrictions and rising premiums are already pushing millions out of coverage. For many families, healthcare affordability has become a top issue and, increasingly, a political fault line heading into the midterm election cycle.

Here are more major storylines from MTT episode 103:

As the episode closes, Dr. Pearl delivers a stark warning about the resurgence of pseudoscience in medicine. Tune in for more fact-based coverage and analysis of healthcare’s biggest stories.

* * *

Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of the new book “ChatGPT, MD: How AI-Empowered Patients & Doctors Can Take Back Control of American Medicine” about the impact of AI on the future of medicine.

Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on Twitter and LinkedIn

The post MTT #103: Can generative AI safely prescribe medicine on its own? appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

In this week’s episode of Medicine: The Truth, hosts Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr look closely at the stories and controversies shaping U.S. healthcare at the start of 2026.

From a severe flu season and resurgent vaccine-preventable diseases to drug pricing, autism research and the growing role of AI in medicine, the episode offers a data-driven look at where American healthcare is headed.

The show opens with warnings about infectious disease. A dangerous H3N2 flu strain is driving hospitalizations, particularly among children, while measles and whooping cough outbreaks continue to spread among unvaccinated populations.

To Dr. Pearl, these trends do not appear random. They reflect falling vaccination rates, weakened public-health messaging and growing political interference at federal agencies tasked with protecting the public.

From there, the conversation turns to vaccine policy itself. Recent changes at the CDC (including a sharply reduced childhood vaccine schedule and new recommendations against universal newborn hepatitis B vaccination) raise serious concerns. Pearl explains why comparisons to countries like Denmark (with its reduced vaccine schedule) are deeply misleading, and why abandoning universal vaccination in a fragmented U.S. healthcare system risks reversing decades of progress.

Here’s a look at other must-know stories from this episode of Medicine: The Truth:

Tune in to Medicine: The Truth for more fact-based coverage and analysis of healthcare’s biggest stories.

* * *

Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of the new book “ChatGPT, MD: How AI-Empowered Patients & Doctors Can Take Back Control of American Medicine” about the impact of AI on the future of medicine.

Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on Twitter and LinkedIn.

The post MTT #102: Vaccines under fire, rising disease & the cost of politics in medicine appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

In this week’s episode of Medicine: The Truth, hosts Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl examine a wide range of stories shaping American health. From new research on the lifesaving effects of health insurance to troubling vaccine policy changes in Washington, this episode offers an objective and insightful look at what’s working, what’s failing and what lies ahead.

The show opens with a study that functions as a natural experiment on health coverage. When the IRS sent letters warning uninsured Americans about Affordable Care Act penalties, researchers found a striking result: those who signed up for insurance had significantly lower mortality over the next two years. For Dr. Pearl, the takeaway is clear. As political battles over insurance subsidies begin, the stakes are measured in lives saved and lives lost.

From there, the hosts turn to the second round of Medicare drug price negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act. Cuts as large as 85% will save billions of dollars, but Pearl warns that negotiating prices alone cannot fix America’s drug-pricing problem. The root issue, he notes, is the ability of manufacturers to extend monopolies for years through patent thickets, evergreening and litigation strategies that delay competition. Until those practices change, the United States will continue paying far more than any other nation.

Here are more pressing stories from this month’s episode of Medicine: The Truth:

As the episode continues, Dr. Pearl highlights fascinating findings on peanut allergies and preterm birth disparities, looks at the likelihood of a severe flu season with the new H3N2 strain and a stern warning about the politicization of vaccine decisions.

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Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of the new book “ChatGPT, MD: How AI-Empowered Patients & Doctors Can Take Back Control of American Medicine” about the impact of AI on the future of medicine. All profits from the book go to Doctors Without Borders.

Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on Twitter and LinkedIn

The post MTT #101: From measles outbreaks to GLP-1 hype, the data every patient should know appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.