Employers are facing a big dilemma: how do they pay for the new highly effective and popular obesity medications without breaking the bank? This week, the questions are forcing companies to re-examine their attitudes on obesity as the understanding of the disease deepens.

Guests:

Sean Scanlon, Connecticut Comptroller

Jeff Levin-Scherz, WTW population health leader

Mike Thompson, President of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions

Olivia Quagliani, Patient

Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.

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Many of America’s poorest and sickest patients are stuck navigating two separate insurance programs — Medicare and Medicaid — to get the care they need.

Guests:

Jose Figueroa, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Jean Minkel, PT, ATP, Senior Vice President of Rehab and Mobility Services, Independence Care System

Rochelle Render, advocate and mother of Saleema Render-Hornsby

Saleema Render-Hornsby, dually eligible person

Allison Rizer, Principal, ATI Advisory

Leslie Walker, Senior Producer/Reporter, Tradeoffs

Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.

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Girls in the U.S. are in the midst of a growing mental health crisis, and schools are on the front line of finding solutions. But will Black and Latina girls get left behind?

Guests:

Monica Bhatt, PhD, Senior Research Director, University of Chicago Education Lab

Sheretta Butler-Barnes, PhD, Professor, Washington University

Kathleen Ethier, PhD, Director, CDC Division of Adolescent and School Health

Ngozi Harris, LCPC, Working on Womanhood Director of Program and Staff Development, Youth Guidance

Shekinah Jackson, Working on Womanhood Participant

Nora-Lisa Malloy, Working on Womanhood Counselor, Youth Guidance

Heidi Sipe, EdS, Superintendent, Umatilla School District (OR)

Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.

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This summer, our research reporter Soleil Shah added a new role to his resume: first-year medical resident. Now he spends his days alternating between making the rounds on hospital patients and reading up on the latest health policy research for the Tradeoffs newsletter. 

Guest:

Soleil Shah, MD, MSc, Research Reporter, Tradeoffs; Resident Physician, Brigham and Women's Hospital

Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.

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Nearly two decades ago, Dr. Jeff Brenner hypothesized that nurses and social workers could guide the country's most complicated patients toward better health ... and cut expensive hospital admissions along the way. Was he right?

Jeff Brenner, Camden Coalition of Health Care Providers

Amy Finkelstein, Economist, MIT

Kathleen Noonan, Camden Coalition of Health Care Providers

Allison Hamblin, Center for Health Care Strategies

Jensen Skinner, Nurse, Camden Coalition of Health Care Providers

Larry Moore, Patient

Check out the research for yourself and learn more on our website: https://bit.ly/tradeoffsep7

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About half of people on Medicare use hospice care before they die, but as the popular benefit turns 40 this year, it is struggling with waste, access and inequity issues. 

This week, we look at a federal experiment revamping Medicare's hospice policy, and how it could ultimately change the way millions of people die.

Guests:

Vince Mor, PhD, Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice, Brown University

Bethany Snider, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Hosparus Health

David Stevenson, PhD, Professor of Health Policy, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Leslie Walker, Senior Producer, Tradeoffs

Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.

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People leaving jail and prison are at extremely high risk of hospitalization and death. This week, why policymakers from deep blue California to solidly red Utah think bringing Medicaid behind bars could help.

Guests:

Lee Reed

Shira Shavit, MD, Professor of Family and Community Medicine, University of California San Francisco; Executive Director, Transitions Clinic Network

Jacey Cooper, Director, California Medicaid Program

Cindy Beane, MSW, LCSW, Commissioner, West Virginia Bureau of Medical Services

Amy Katzen, JD, MPP, Director of Policy and Strategy, Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services

Mike Levine, Medicaid Director, MassHealth

Dana Flannery, Former Senior Policy Advisor, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System

Khalil Cumberbatch, MSW, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Council on Criminal Justice

Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.

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One year of health insurance premiums for a family of four now costs as much as a car. Nine states are trying to lower those costs in an aggressive way - by holding hospitals and insurance companies accountable for high spending. In this episode we look to see if any of those efforts have bent the cost curve.

Guests: 

Leemore Dafny, PhD, Harvard University economist

Michael Bailit, MBA President and Founder Bailit Health

David Seltz, Executive Director Massachusetts Health Policy Commission

Amy Rosenthal, MPH, MPA Executive Director Health Care For All

Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.

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Black Americans report higher levels of mistrust in the health care system than white Americans and suffer worse outcomes in everything from maternal mortality to life expectancy. What if improving health literacy and demystifying health information could be the part of the solution?

This week, one doctor’s crusade to help more people understand their own health care and why insurers are starting to buy in.

Guests:

Lisa Fitzpatrick, MD, MPH, MPA, Founder and CEO, Grapevine Health

Keith Maccannon, Director of Marketing, Outreach and Community Relations, AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia

Yvonne Smith, Grapevine Client

Karen Dale, RN, MSN, Market President, AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia

Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.

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The Inflation Reduction Act gave Medicare historic new power to directly negotiate the prices of some of the costliest prescription drugs. Now the federal agency must grapple with a difficult question: What makes a drug price fair?

This week, we explain how this negotiation process will work and the impact it could have.

Guests:

Anton Avanceña, PhD, Assistant Professor of Health Outcomes, University of Texas 

Darius Lakdawalla, PhD, Professor of Pharmaceutical Economics and Public Policy, University of Southern California 

Lauren Neves, JD, Deputy Vice President, PhRMA

Steve Pearson, MD, MSc, Founder and President, Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER)

Ben Rome, MD, MPH, physician and researcher, Harvard Medical School

Meena Seshamani, MD, PhD, Deputy Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Leslie Walker, Senior Producer/Reporter, Tradeoffs

Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.

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