We Can Do This!

In this first episode of a two-part series on HIV in America, NCL President and CEO Sally Greenberg speaks with Carl Schmid, Executive Director of the HIV + Hepatitis Policy Institute, and Jesse Milan Jr., CEO Emeritus of AIDS United, about the devastating early years of the AIDS epidemic and the remarkable transformation of HIV prevention and treatment over the past four decades.

Sally Greenberg speaks with Robert Goff, founding board member of Undue Medical Debt, and Lisa Bercu, NCL’s Senior Director of Health Policy to unpack how medical debt arises and why it remains such a widespread burden for patients.

They explore key drivers of medical debt—including healthcare costs, hospital practices, the role of the 340B Drug Pricing Program, and gaps in coverage and financial assistance—and discuss policy solutions to better protect consumers.

Sally Greenberg speaks with Gerald Dal Pan, M.D., Director of the FDA’s Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology, to explain how the FDA identifies drug safety signals, responds to emerging safety concerns and adherence challenges, and ensures ongoing protection for patients.

In this episode of NCL’s “We Can Do This” podcast, we dive into the world of biosimilars—cost-effective alternatives to expensive biologic drugs. Host Sally welcomes Giuseppe Randazzo (Association for Accessible Medicines) and Anna Hyde (Arthritis Foundation) to discuss the urgent need to simplify the biosimilar approval process. Discover how regulatory modernization could save billions, improve patient access, and break down barriers in the healthcare system.

Our experts explain the challenges patients face, the importance of building trust in biosimilars, and the legislative changes needed to ensure safe, effective, and affordable treatments for all. Tune in for actionable insights and real-world stories that matter to patients, providers, and policymakers alike.

Sally Greenberg speaks with Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg, PhD, a senior partner at the polling firm GQR. Sally and Anna discuss polling techniques and polling results leading up to the election of President Donald Trump in 2024.

The 340B Drug Pricing Program– a federal initiative designed to provide medications to lower income patients at reduced prices–is being manipulated by large health care entities in order to reap tens of billions of dollars in profits with little to no oversight and transparency. As a result, the intended beneficiaries- low-income patients- are being forced to pay full price for medications they cannot afford.

National Consumers League CEO Sally Greenberg speaks with Amy Hinojosa, President and CEO of Mana, a National Latina Organization, and Dr. Ge Bai, an expert on health care accounting, finance, and policy at Johns Hopkins University, regarding a shocking lack of transparency for a program that has more than doubled in cost reaching more than $120 Billion in 2022. 

Today we are tackling a global issue affecting millions of young girls: Child marriage. Every year, thousands of girls are married off before they turn 18, often without their consent. Globally, one in five girls was married or in an informal union before the age of 18. Child marriage and forced marriage are happening all too often in the United States as well, at alarming rates. Over 300,000 minors were married in the United States between 2000 and 2018, 37 states currently allow children to marry and some have no minimum age for child marriage. On this episode, we are going to be talking to three remarkable women who have survived child marriage and are now leading the fight against it as advocates with Unchained At Last, a national organization and movement dedicated to ending forced and child marriage in the United States. The mission of Unchained at Last is crucial to human rights and women's rights as marriage before 18 often involves coercion, unplanned pregnancies, and stripping minors of the legal rights they need to leave an unwanted marriage. 

On this health series episode of NCL’s “We Can Do this” podcast, Director of Health Policy, Robin Strongin, sits with Sarah Ikenberry, Senior Communication Advisor for the Office of Therapeutic Biologics and Biosimilars at US Food and Drug Administration, and Julie Reed, Executive Director of the Biosimilars Forum. In this podcast, Robin, Sarah and Julie discuss what biosimilars are, what they mean for patients and how biosimilars can be a cost-saving alternative for patients. 

For more information on biosimilars, visit https://scriptyourfuture.org/biosimilars/.

This episode of NCL’s “We Can Do This!” health podcast is focused on alternatives to opioids for pain control. America is in the middle of an opioid crisis, and that crisis extends to young adults who are dealing with pain from wisdom teeth removal, sports-related injuries and more.  Experts share information on how all consumers can speak to their health providers about nonaddictive pain relief options. Experts also weigh in on the enduring stigma around addiction and substance use disorder. NCL CEO, Sally Greenberg is joined by the Honorable Mary Bono, former Congresswoman and co-founder and CEO of Mothers Against Prescription Drug Abuse (MAPDA); Charlene Ng, Vice President of US Medical Affairs at Bayer; and Matt Robinson, co-host of Till the Wheels Fall Off podcast and the voice of “The Painful Truth” campaign.  

In our latest installment of We Can Do This! Sally Greenberg, CEO of National Consumers League, sits down with Rebecca Ballard to discuss the fashion and garment industry. Sally and Rebecca, an experienced and leading authority on sustainable fashion and founder of the consulting firm Ballard Advisory, discuss the incredible linkage connecting the garment industry’s history with the work of NCL specifically with respect to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the early 1900s, women’s and workers’ rights movements in the U.S., and child labor exploitation. Rebecca, a former Labor and Employment Attorney with the U.S. Department of Commerce and owner of the sustainable fashion line Maven Women, recently penned a guest blog for NCL titled “The FABRIC Act will address garment industry workplace concerns.”