We explore the high cost of insulin in the U.S. and Congress’ latest push to address those prices with Kaiser Health News reporter Bram Sable-Smith.

Guest:

Bram Sable-Smith, Midwest Correspondent, Kaiser Health News

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After Medicare’s decision to restrict coverage of the controversial new Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, we look at how this one drug has forced the nation to reexamine how to balance the needs of desperate patients, incomplete evidence and larger economic realities.

Guests:

Phil Gutis, Alzheimer’s patient and advocate

Holly Fernandez Lynch, JD, MBe, John Russell Dickson, MD Presidential Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics, University of Pennsylvania

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An immunosuppressed physician explains what navigating her life – and her workplace – is like in this COVID-fatigued world.

Guest:

Lindsay Ryan, MD, San Francisco VA Medical Center

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America’s largest health insurance companies moonlight as obscure middlemen, managing billions in health care spending for many of the country’s biggest employers. What could go wrong?

Join us for a wild, wonky journey into the world of third-party administrators.

Guests:

Christin Deacon, JD, Senior Vice President, 4C Health Solutions; former Assistant Director, Division of Pension & Benefits, New Jersey Department of Treasury

Brian Hufford, JD, Partner, Zuckerman Spaeder LLP

Ken Janda, JD, Founder, Wild Blue Health Solutions; Adjunct Professor, University of Houston College of Medicine 

Sandy Peters, retiree

Have a look at more of Leslie's reporting on TPAs.

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The U.S. health care system is responsible for 8.5% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. We discuss how health care contributes to climate change, how some hospitals are trying to reduce their carbon footprint and what more needs to be done.

NOTE: This episode has been updated to clarify Practice Greenhealth's operating model.

Guest:

Gary Cohen, co-founder and president of Health Care Without Harm

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We explore the impacts of charging Medicaid enrollees premiums and how phasing out premiums may affect Montana's Medicaid expansion program.

Guests:

Katharine Bradley, Principal Researcher, Mathematica

Heather O'Loughlin, Co-Director, Montana Budget & Policy Center

Ed Buttrey, State Representative, Montana

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Jails and prisons are one of the few places in the United States where health care is a right. But for many incarcerated people, that care often falls short. This is the story one of those people: Princola Shields.

This episode was originally produced for the podcast Sick, a production of Side Effects Public Media.

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We explore “cascades of care” — how a clinician's desire to be thorough can snowball into a harmful spiral of unnecessary care.

Guests:

Meredith Niess, MD, MPH, Clinical Academic Resource Director, University of North Carolina School of Medicine and Novant Health

Ishani Ganguli, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Cheryl Damberg, PhD, MPH, Principal Senior Economist and Director, RAND Center of Excellence on Health System Performance

Scott Weingarten, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; Chief Innovation Officer, SCAN Health Plan

Read a full transcript and dig deeper into the issues explored in today's episode on our website.

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As Peter Lee prepares to step down after a decade of running California's Obamacare exchange, he reflects on his experience, the strengths and weaknesses of the Affordable Care Act, and what the next frontier for health care should be in the U.S.

Guest:

Peter Lee, Executive Director, Covered California

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Every 5 years, the FDA has to renegotiate billions of dollars in user fees with the drug and medical device companies it regulates. This is one of those years, and Congress has to pass the latest user fee agreements by the end of September to keep FDA running. We break down this controversial process and what other health policies could pass in its wake.

Guest:

Sarah Karlin-Smith, Senior Writer, Pink Sheet

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