Conversations on Health Care

$4.95 — that’s the record high price of a dozen of Grade A eggs in U.S. cities. Michael Osterholm, Ph. D., the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, says expect them to go even higher. That’s because H5N1, a form of bird flu, has affected more than 156 million commercial, backyard and wild birds in the United States in the last three years. Osterholm, with nearly 50 ye...

Noted healthcare leader Dr. Sachin Jain has been publicly releasing his annual predictions for the sector for five years and is proud of his “pretty accurate” track record. He’s out now with his list of top 10 predictions for the healthcare industry for 2025. Dr. Jain states that “Heretofore fringe ideas about wellness and disease causation and medications will continue to go mainstream.” Dr. Jain...

President Trump’s first days in office have resulted in a number of important changes in the healthcare landscape. President Trump has withdrawn the United States from the World Health Organization, rolled back drug pricing policies and limited gender-affirming care. In addition, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., awaits his confirmation hearing to serve as secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Ser...

As the year begins, some patients remain concerned about how far artificial intelligence (AI) is creeping into the exam room. But AI has been part of health care longer than most realize, according to Dr. Isaac Kohane, a Harvard University professor. Kohane is the editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine’s first publication devoted to AI; it’s a groundbreaking role and we’re proud to...

The World Health Organization has issued a statement expressing concern about artificial intelligence in health care. In 2023, Mayo Clinic’s then-Chief Information Officer Cris Ross joined us to discuss it. He led innovation projects at Mayo Clinic for over 30 years and told us “perhaps” we should be worried about ChatGPT. “These technologies are value-neutral but their usage is not necessarily va...

Conversations on Health Care hopes the new year is off to a great start for you! But before we completely turn the page on 2024, we want to look back on our top issues and interviews from the past year. We spoke to leading experts about the health care policies that were part of the presidential race; the promise and peril of artificial intelligence; the research into happiness; and many other iss...

Dr. Amit Sood is called the “Happiness Doctor” for a good reason; his resilience approach has been included in over 35 clinical trials. The holiday season, occurring right after an intense election, is an ideal time to learn from Dr. Sood about how to recognize stress and reprogram the brain to deal with it. One of his top pieces of advice: Ask yourself if what is upsetting you will matter in five...

Billionaires who dream of extending human life, including Elon Musk, believe they will have very supportive partners in the incoming Trump administration. They’re excited that President Trump has nominated Jim O’Neill for the number two spot at the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services because of his history in the anti-aging movement. David Gobel, the co-founder and CEO of the Methuselah Fund,...

Nurse practitioners, at 385,000 strong in the U.S., are increasingly seen as a key part of the solution to the primary care provider shortage. What are the challenges and opportunities to ensure everyone can get the care they need when they need it? Our guest is the president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, Stephen Ferrara , DNP. He also serves as the inaugural associate dean o...

HIV/AIDS experts are cautiously watching as President Trump and his administration near inauguration day. On one hand, they remember how President Trump announced in 2019 his initiative called Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America. It included Ready, Set, PrEP, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services initiative that provides free access to the HIV prevention medication PrEP for thousa...

Dr. Amit Sood is called the “Happiness Doctor” for a good reason; his resilience approach has been included in over 35 clinical trials. The holiday season, occurring right after an intense election, is an ideal time to learn from Dr. Sood about how to recognize stress and reprogram the brain to deal with it. One of his top pieces of advice: Ask yourself if what is upsetting you will matter in five...

TV ads focused on health care issues — including transgender care, abortion and costs — ricocheted across the airwaves in the months leading up to election day. Erika Franklin Fowler, Ph. D., is a co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, which tracks political ads. She joins “Conversations on Health Care” to discuss a controversial anti-transgender surgery ad from the Republicans that also benef...

There are 27 million Americans who have medical debt on their credit reports right now—a drag on their pocketbooks and our health care system. Urban Institute researchers say they’ve found an interesting fact about those with medical debt: They live in communities with less healthcare competition because of common ownership. The data show that communities of color and people living in the South ar...

The current life expectancy at birth is 74.8 years for males and for females it’s 80.2 years in the U.S. Does it catch your eye when you hear about predictions we’ll be able to live to 100 and beyond? Some researchers are throwing cold water on those notions. “We’ll be lucky if 5% of the age cohort makes it to 100,” says S. Jay Olshansky, Ph. D., Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago. He an...

Early voting is underway in most of the U.S. right now (with few exceptions) and health care is on the ballot. There are increasing signs that former President Trump, if re-elected, will try to proceed with “massive changes” to the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris is vowing to protect the law and continue federal drug price negotiations. Both candidates say they’ll seek...

The upcoming presidential election is stressing out 69% of American adults, according to a survey from the American Psychological Association. If you’re with the majority in feeling that way, there’s important advice to consider from worldwide acclaimed soprano Renée Fleming. She’s the editor of “Music and Mind,” a curated collection of essays from leading scientists, artists, creative arts therap...

For nearly the first decade of the National Institutes of Health’s “All of Us” research program — aimed at increasing diversity in genetic research — a major component was missing: kids.  “Children are approximately 24% of our population in the U.S. and 100% of our future,” Dr. Sara Van Driest, director of pediatrics for NIH’s All of Us project, told hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter. “In o...

The countdown is on to election day with health care issues hanging in the balance as never before. The biggest one: Abortion and reproductive rights. Andrea Ducas, the Vice President of Health Policy at the Center for American Progress, says “What you see with Vice President Harris is a candidate who’s committed to protecting women’s freedoms, to protecting women’s right to choose.” On the other...

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Mandy Cohen described to “Conversations on Health Care” that their role right now is ensuring impacted residents understand the health risks that are present and could continue to grow in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Dr. Cohen says while local, state and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials are in the acute response...

At the beginning of this year, few could have predicted that in vitro fertilization would become a big political topic. But that’s what occurred after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled frozen embryos are “unborn children.” The Alabama legislature then responded by passing a law to shield IVF providers. Since then, former President Trump said he wants the government or insurance companies to pay for...

When we have a guest like “Shark Tank” star Mark Cuban, it’s can be hard to keep up with all his thoughts. He was a bundle of energy in November 2022 explaining his then-new venture trying to reform how Americans can purchase lower-priced drugs; he called it “dunking on the pharma industry.” Since our conversation, experts say Cuban has become a major disrupter in generic drug pricing. Cost Plus n...

Experts report we’re dealing with the hottest summer on record for the second year in a row. Phoenix has recorded 100 straight days of over 100-degree weather; Hollywood Burbank Airport in the Los Angeles area matched its all-time high temperature with a reading of 114. In Los Angeles, the city is taking action to help its people deal with the temperatures through the leadership of Marta Segura, o...

Did you know private equity now owns one-third of private hospitals in the country and the percentage is growing? Private equity is a controversial type of financing typically seen in the technology and media sectors that’s now attracted to health care. It’s a trend that greatly troubles Erin Fuse Brown. She’s a professor of health services, policy and practice at Brown University’s School of Publ...

Gallup reports that a record-high 32% of U.S. voters say they will only vote for a candidate for major office who shares their views on abortion. Indeed, the upcoming November presidential election will be the first one since the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion. The Washington reporters who cover health care policy and political maneuverings join us on “Conversations on He...

Some patients are concerned about how far artificial intelligence (AI) is creeping into the exam room. But AI has been part of health care longer than most realize, according to Dr. Isaac Kohane, a groundbreaking Harvard University professor. Kohane is the editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine’s first publication devoted to AI. He tells hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter tha...