Tradeoffs

President Biden wants to spend $400 billion to help older and disabled Americans get health care at home as part of his $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, a huge investment in an often neglected part of the health care system. Guests: Howard Gleckman , Senior Fellow, Urban Institute Rachel Werner , MD, PhD, Executive Director, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Penn...

As gun violence surges, researchers are using new federal funding to search for solutions. Emmy Betz , MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Director of the  Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative , University of Colorado Jonathan Jay , DrPH, JD, Assistant Professor of Community Health Sciences, Boston University Autumn Parkin, gun owner and advocate If you or someone you know...

We sit down with one of the top pandemic reporters in the country to answer to answer listener questions. Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli , Science and Global Health Reporter, New York Times NOTE: This episode incorrectly states that more than 125 million people had received vaccinations at the time the episode aired. More than 125 million doses had been administered, but fewer than 90 million people ha...

One year ago, a community health center in Boston told us how COVID had wreaked havoc on their budget, staff and patient care. How are they doing now? Guest:  Chuck Jones , MBA, President and CEO, Harbor Health For more of this and our previous conversations with Jones: https://tradeoffs.org/2021/03/18/one-community-health-centers-covid-recovery Sign up for our weekly newsletter to see what r...

The recently passed $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act includes a sweeping expansion of the child tax credit, a policy change that could protect millions of kids from poverty—and the health risks that come with it. Guests: Deborah Frank , MD, Founding Director of the Grow Clinic at Boston Medical Center (retired); Professor of Child Health and Well-Being (retired), Boston University School of...

White Americans are getting vaccinated against COVID-19 at higher rates than Black and Latino people, even though communities of color have been hit hardest by the pandemic. We explore how Chicago is tackling this problem and what other city’s can learn from their efforts. Guests: Allison Arwady , MD, MPH, Commissioner, Chicago Department of Public Health James Rudyk , Executive Director, Northwes...

At the end of 2020, Congress finally passed legislation protecting patients from surprise out-of-network medical bills. We dig into the research to understand what we can expect from this long-awaited policy fix. Guests: Sayeh Nikpay , PhD, Tradeoffs Contributing Research Editor; Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota Benjamin Chartock , Associate Fellow, Leon...

Employers are clashing with hospitals, insurers and even their own workers over high health care prices. We meet some of the businesses, unions and advocates on the frontlines of this battle that could determine the fate of employer-based insurance. Listener warning: This episode does contain sensitive language Guests: Marilyn Bartlett , CPA, CMA, CFM, Senior Policy Fellow, National Academy for St...

The U.S. health care system is full of wasteful spending. A group of top health economists say a bunch of small changes could save the country big money. Guests: Zack Cooper , PhD, Associate Professor of Public Health and of Economics, Yale University Mario Macis , PhD, Professor of Economics, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School Fiona Scott Morton , PhD, Theodore Nierenberg Professor of Economics,...

Doctors and nurses can feel as if they’re living in two worlds. One in which patients are getting sick and dying from the coronavirus, and another in which people deny the virus is real. Emergency room physician Mike Hunihan describes what it’s like to live and work with that dissonance. Guest: Michael Hunihan, M.D. View a full transcript of this episode: https://tradeoffs.org/2021/02/04/death-dis...

Who is Xavier Becerra? We explore Becerra's health policy record, what drives his views and what he could do about the country's health care consolidation problem. Guests: Peter Lee , JD, Executive Director, Covered California Richard Scheffler , PhD, Director, Nicholas C. Petris Center Aditi Sen , PhD, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public H...

Democrats are returning to the White House and the Senate majority with a long health policy to-do list. Reporter Jonathan Cohn says the battle over Obamacare offers lessons and clues as to where the party’s “unfinished crusade for universal coverage” may head next. Guest: Jonathan Cohn , HuffPost senior national correspondent and author of  "The Ten Year War: Obamacare and the Unfinished Cru...

Nursing homes have been one of the epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic. So why are so many nursing home workers hesitant to get vaccinated, and what can be done to turn those numbers around? Guests: Tracey Couliboly, Director of Recreation, Jewish Home at Rockleigh Carol Silver Elliott, CEO, Jewish Home at Rockleigh Jasmine Travers , AGPCNP-BC CCRN, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor of Nursin...

2021 is shaping up to be a big year in health care: a new vaccine, new lawmakers with new policy agendas all over the country. Also on the horizon is a real reckoning with the health effects of racism, and a showdown between some of health care’s biggest players. Tradeoffs is here to take you through the health care year ahead. We’ll explore the policies and programs, and we’ll introduce you...

New federal rules requiring hospitals to post their prices are set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2021. But will price transparency lower the cost of health care? [This episode was originally published on July 7, 2020.] Guest: Margot Sanger-Katz, Health Care Reporter, New York Times For more a complete transcript of Dan’s conversation with Margot: https://tradeoffs.org/2020/07/07/the-price-of-care/...

Soaring numbers of Americans are feeling anxious, stressed and depressed. Could a reimagined approach to primary care help meet their needs? [This episode was originally published on July 28, 2020.] Eboni Winford , PhD, Director of Research and Health Equity, Cherokee Health Systems Parinda Khatri , PhD, Chief Clinical Officer, Cherokee Health Systems Sandy Blount , EdD, Founding Director, Center...

In a surprise unanimous decision, the Supreme Court pushed back against the power of ERISA, a little known federal law that has stifled states’ attempts to regulate health care for decades. [NOTE: Part of this episode originally aired on Oct. 6] Guest: Erin Fuse Brown , Associate Professor of Law; Director, Center for Law, Health & Society, Georgia State University For a complete transcript of...

As medical interns step into their new roles as doctors, one resident gives us a window into her experiences in a COVID ICU. [This episode was originally published on July 30, 2020.]  Guest: Tamar Pounardjian, MD Resident, Brown Medical School, Internal Medicine Residency Program Read a transcript of this episode: https://tradeoffs.org/2020/07/30/life-in-the-icu/ Sign up for our weekly newsl...

This summer, the Trump administration tried to roll back some federal protections for transgender patients. We look at the fight to secure health care for trans Americans and explore the extent to which policies designed to expand access have delivered on their promise. [This episode was originally published on July 14, 2020.] Guests: Kellan Baker , PhD, Centennial Scholar, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg...

We look back on some of the best health policy podcast episodes of the year with help from a few of our podcast host friends. Guests: Julie Rovner , host, What the Health, Kaiser Health News Dan Diamond , host, Pulse Check, Politico Laura Carlson , host, Prognosis, Bloomberg Max Jordan Nguemeni Tiako , host, Flip the Script Alexandra Olgin , host, Gist Healthcare Daily, Gist Healthcare For a compl...

The Affordable Care Act is back in front of the Supreme Court. We explain the case and outline three ways this latest existential challenge to the law could end. Guest: Katie Keith , JD, Adjunct Professor of Law, Georgetown Law; Author of Health Affairs  “Following the ACA” Blog   For more on the latest challenge to the ACA and a complete transcript of this episode: https://tradeoffs.org...

From restricting abortion to legalizing marijuana, voters are weighing in on a variety of significant state health policy questions this election. (CORRECTION: An earlier version of this episode said Washington D.C. was considering “decriminalizing” psychoactive plants like mushrooms. They were in fact only considering  effectively  decriminalizing them by directing police to make enforc...

With COVID-19 again bearing down on U.S. hospitals, a team of military doctors and disaster preparedness experts are racing to build a system to deploy critical care providers anywhere in an instant. Guests: Col. Jeremy Pamplin, MD , Director, U.S. Army Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) Ben Scott, MD , Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, University of Colorado Doug...

With communities of color disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, drugmakers and public health officials are placing an unprecedented emphasis on diversity in vaccine clinical trials. Guests: Beau Garland , Vice President of Recruitment, Meridian Clinical Research Jonathan Jackson, PhD , Director, CARE Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital. For complete complete transcript of this conve...

The coronavirus pandemic forced public and private insurers to relax longstanding restrictions on telehealth, leading to a virtual care explosion. But how many of those changes are here to stay? Guest: Chad Ellimoottil , MD, Assistant Professor of Urology and Director of the Telehealth Research Incubator at the University of Michigan Read a transcript of this episode: https://tradeoffs.org/2020/10...