The U.S. housing crisis and health care are inextricably linked. Compared to the general population, people experiencing homelessness have higher rates of illness and mortality. These struggles are even more acute for transgender people, who often face discrimination when they seek both housing and health care.

On the latest episode of The Dose, Pam Klein, Manager of Transgender Services at the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, talks about how to provide health care to transgender people who lack housing. As public acceptance of transgender people grows, and more and more people who openly identify as trans enter the field of health care, there is hope for the future, she says.

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When the pandemic hit last March, mental health care, which was typically delivered in face-to-face sessions, rapidly moved online.

At a time when the need for support was greater than ever, this was a welcome shift. But as we glance – with cautious optimism – toward a return to "normal," will telehealth be the dominant mode of delivering mental health services?

On the latest episode, Latoya Thomas, senior director of policy and government affairs at Included Health, and Solome Tibebu, director of the Upswing Fund for Adolescent Mental Health, talk about the future of virtual mental health care, particularly for underserved groups.

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While rich countries are doling out booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, many poor countries have vaccinated less than five percent of their population. And, while many leaders agree that vaccinating the world is the only way out of the pandemic, vaccines are still not moving around the globe in a rapid and equitable manner.

This is because "we live in a hierarchy of health," says Priti Krishtel, a health justice lawyer and cofounder of I-MAK, a nonprofit focused on building a more just and equitable medicines system.

On the latest episode of The Dose, Krishtel argues that unequal access to vaccines is rooted in a long-standing system of incentives that governs drug development and allocation. She says rethinking the drug patent regime and other incentives — and working together to ensure every country gets a fair allocation of vaccines — is the way to end this and future pandemics.

Even as the Delta variant rages through the U.S., many Americans have not received a COVID-19 vaccine. The reasons are complex, but for Black and Latinx communities, a long history of poor access to health care has been a tall barrier.

On the first episode of our brand-new season of The Dose podcast, host Shanoor Seervai talks to Rhea Boyd, M.D., a pediatrician and public health advocate, about what it takes to dismantle the historic racism that has long prevented people of color from getting the health care they need.

Black and Latinx health care professionals like Dr. Boyd are answering questions about the COVID-19 vaccine online and in person. If we make it a national priority, she says, we can ensure Black and Latinx people get credible information about the vaccines and easy access to them.

The Dose is the Commonwealth Fund's podcast that asks, What can the U.S. do differently when it comes to health care? Join host Shanoor Seervai every other Friday for conversations with leading and emerging experts. This season we're focusing on new ideas that could strengthen and improve health care for everyone.

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Music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Many Americans have started to behave as if the pandemic is over, but large numbers of people remain unvaccinated. At the same time, other parts of the world are experiencing their worst COVID-19 surges yet.

On the season finale of The Dose, Sandro Galea, physician, epidemiologist, and dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, talks about what it will take to vaccinate the entire world and how we can protect ourselves from future pandemics.

He explains that while vaccines may mitigate the crisis in the short run, they cannot be a substitute for long-term investments in the social services that keep people healthy.

Please take a minute to fill out our survey and tell us what you think about the podcast: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/themicrodose.

When the pandemic hit last March, the U.S. was still facing another major public health crisis —the opioid epidemic. Between COVID-19 lockdowns and economic devastation, overdose deaths soared. Experts estimate that around 90,000 people died of a drug overdose in 2020. That's the highest number of overdose deaths ever, and it represents the largest one-year increase.

On the latest episode of The Dose, we explore why drug deaths are rising and how policymakers can help fix the problem with guests Brendan Saloner, professor of health policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and Jesse Baumgartner, a research associate at the Commonwealth Fund.

Many of us can recall a time we felt nervous about seeing a doctor. Maybe it was because we were wary about how much the visit would cost, or what a diagnosis would mean for our health. Now, imagine how much more stress you would feel if you had experienced trauma — from domestic violence or human trafficking, for example.

Trauma survivors are the people family medicine physician Anita Ravi, M.D., cares for. On the latest episode of The Dose, Ravi and Keisha Walcott, one of her former patients, talk about how to design health systems for women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence. Ravi and Walcott explain how health, poverty, and trauma are interlinked and why providers must address all three.

Many of us can recall a time we felt nervous about seeing a doctor. Maybe it was because we were wary about how much the visit would cost, or what a diagnosis would mean for our health. Now, imagine how much more stress you would feel if you had experienced trauma — from domestic violence or human trafficking, for example.

Trauma survivors are the people family medicine physician Anita Ravi, M.D., cares for. On the latest episode of The Dose, Ravi and Keisha Walcott, one of her former patients, talk about how to design health systems for women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence. Ravi and Walcott explain how health, poverty, and trauma are interlinked and why providers must address all three.

Migrants are crossing the southern border in record numbers this year, many of them unaccompanied children. What happens to them once they make it into the U.S., or if they've been here for a long time, when they need health care?

On the latest episode of The Dose podcast, Carrie Byington, executive vice president of University of California Health explains, drawing on her expertise as a pediatrician and infectious disease specialist, and personal experience treating immigrants and their families.

Byington, a member of the Commonwealth Fund's Board of Directors, describes how the pandemic has illustrated the urgent public health need for immigrants to have health care, because "people may choose to forgo testing, or choose to postpone vaccination if they're afraid to sign up for a vaccine."