Health Affairs This Week

Health Affairs ' Jeff Byers welcomes Katie Keith of Georgetown Law back to the pod to discuss the House Republican budget reconciliation legislation and what impacts this legislation could have on the Affordable Care Act market, Medicaid beneficiaries, health savings accounts, Medicare, and more. Become an Insider today to get access to exclusive events, our recent trend report on AI in health car...

Health Affairs ' Jeff Byers welcomes Senior Editor Michael Gerber back to the program to discuss the Food and Drug Administration's recent announcement to scale a generative artificial intelligence across its center in the future. Health Affairs released their first Insider trend report. The report focuses on AI in health care and you can get full access to this report by becoming an Insider. Insi...

On May 13, A Health Podyssey's Rob Lott chatted with Andrew Ryan of Brown University about his paper in the May 2025 edition of Health Affairs that explores how Rhode Island's affordability standards impacted hospital prices and insurance premiums .  Order the May 2025 issue of Health Affairs . Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep it that way....

Health Affairs ' Jeff Byers welcomes Christina Farr , advisor, investor, editor-in-chief of Second Opinion Media , to the pod to discuss recent moves by Omada Health and Hinge Health to take the companies public, how the IPOs could impact the digital health market, and what gains her attention when companies make their investment pitches. Health Affairs released their first trend report, which is...

Health Affairs ' Rob Lott interviews Thomas Buchmueller of the University of Michigan to discuss his recent paper that explores how during the Medicaid 'Unwinding' of 2023, the reduction in Medicaid-paid prescriptions was offset by increased commercial coverage . Order the May 2025 issue of Health Affairs . Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep...

Health Affairs ' Jeff Byers welcomes Katie Keith of Georgetown Law back to the pod to discuss President Trump's potential changes to the rulemaking process, how that may impact rulemaking at HHS, and break down the house Republican budget reconciliation bill and the impacts it could have on Medicaid and more. Become an Insider today to get access to our May 29 event on the FDA under the second Tru...

Health Affairs ' Senior Deputy Editor Rob Lott interviews Caitlin Carroll of the University of Minnesota to discuss her recent paper that explores how rural hospital closures led to an increase in prices for nearby remaining hospitals. Order the May 2025 issue of Health Affairs . Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep it that way. With your suppo...

Health Affairs ' Jeff Byers welcomes Farzad Mostashari , founder & CEO of Aledade and the former National Coordinator for Health IT, to the pod to break down insights in the latest MedPAC report, quality measurement reform, and areas of opportunity for value-based care. Health Affairs is hosting an Insider exclusive event on May 29  focusing on the FDA's first 100 days under the second Trump a...

Health Affairs ' Senior Deputy Editor Rob Lott interviews Eric Topol , Executive Vice President of Scripps Research , on his new book, Super Agers , which provides an evidence-based approach on extending healthy lifespans. Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep it that way. With your support , we can continue to keep our digital publication Foref...

Health Affairs ' Jeff Byers welcomes Senior Editor Akilah Wise  to the program to discuss the impacts of preserving the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the effects of physical exercise on health, and how this type of data helps inform policy making. We are hosting another live podcast recording of A Health Podyssey featuring host Rob Lott and guest Andrew Ryan where they will discuss h...

Health Affairs ' Jeff Byers welcomes Deputy Editor Jessica Bylander to the program to celebrate the 200th episode of Health Affairs This Week and take a look back at the health care world of 2020 and see what has changed in terms of COVID-19, vaccinations, telehealth, and more.   Health Affairs published an ahead-of-print article this week from Yashaswini Singh and coauthors exploring explore how...

Health Affairs ' Jeff Byers welcomes Bob Herman of STAT News to the program to discuss the state of deals in the health care space, how vertical integration and consolidation have played a role in mergers & acquisitions as it relates to hospitals, and what might fly under the radar from even the most savvy of health policy wonks. Health Affairs Insiders can join us April 23  for an exclusive v...

Welcome to the final episode in a special four-part series from Health Affairs on the intersection of food, nutrition, and health. This special series compliments the release of a theme issue on food, nutrition, and health, which is currently available to read . In this episode, Health Affairs' Jessica Bylander and Ellen Bayer speak with Heather Thomas from the nonprofit A Place to Stand about her...

In a special podcast episode, Health Affairs Scholar Associate Editor Loren Adler interviews Elizabeth Popp-Berman about the Health and Political Economy series of papers recently published in Health Affairs Scholar .   The series asks how might the U.S. build a more just and inclusive political economy for health rather than take the status quo for granted.   This paper collection was developed i...

Health Affairs ' Jeff Byers welcomes David Simon from The University of Connecticut to the program to discuss the recent news that the Trump administration implemented reciprocal tariffs on imported goods and what this could mean for the health care industry. Become an Insider today to never miss out on David Simon's exclusive newsletter, Economic Intersections . Insiders can join us April 23  for...

Welcome to the third episode in a special four-part series from Health Affairs on the intersection of food, nutrition, and health. This special series compliments the release of a theme issue on food, nutrition, and health to be released this week . In this episode, Health Affairs' Jessica Bylander and Ellen Bayer discuss the content in the theme issue . Order the Food, Nutrition, and Health Issue...

Health Affairs ' Jeff Byers welcomes Senior Editor Michael Gerber back to the program to discuss the recent announcement from the Trump administration to cancel certain alternative payment models, their previous impact on health spending, and the difficult task of measuring success over a long period of time and across different administrations. Order the April 2025 theme issue of Health Affairs f...

Welcome to the second episode in a special four-part series from Health Affairs on the intersection of food, nutrition, and health. This special series compliments the release of a theme issue on food, nutrition, and health to be released April 7, 2025. In this episode, Health Affairs' Jessica Bylander speaks with Diane Schanzenbach from Northwestern University on the topic of food support program...

Health Affairs ' Jeff Byers welcomes Seth Berkowitz of UNC School of Medicine back to the program to discuss nutrition in the US, the current state of SNAP benefits, and his upcoming paper to be featured in our April 2025 theme issue on food, nutrition, and health. Preorder the April 2024 theme issue of Health Affairs . Join us April 23  for an exclusive Insider virtual event exploring site-neutra...

Welcome to a special four-part series from Health Affairs on the intersection of food, nutrition, and health. This special series compliments the release of a theme issue on food, nutrition, and health to be released April 7, 2025. In the first episode, Health Affairs' Ellen Bayer speaks with Na'Taki Osborne Jelks from Spelman College on the topic of water insecurity. Pre-order the Food, Nutrition...

Health Affairs ' Jeff Byers welcomes Deputy Editor Chris Fleming and Katie Keith of Georgetown Law to the program to discuss the 15th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act and the first 50 days of the new Trump administration. Katie Keith is a frequent contributor to the Health Affairs Forefront series Health Policy At A Crossroads . Catch up on what you may have missed . Health Affairs will be h...

Health Affairs ' Jeff Byers welcomes Brian Anderson , President & CEO of the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI) , to the program to discuss the adoption of artificial intelligence technology in health care and the future application of these tools. Health Affairs is hosting an Insider-exclusive virtual event on March 19th examining the potential policy and administrative changes surrounding the Me...

Health Affairs ' Jeff Byers welcomes Rebecca Pifer of Healthcare Dive back to the program to discuss the 2025 budget resolution that passed the House on its way to the Senate, the current administration's health care agenda, and what ripple effects the current actions of DOGE are having on the health care workforce. Health Affairs just released their March 2025 issue focusing on pharmaceuticals, p...

Health Affairs ' Jeff Byers invites Victor Dzau of the National Academy of Medicine to the program to discuss the 2025 Vital Directions paper package and what major takeaways could be found to inform the incoming administration for the future of health care. Join a live recording of A Health Podyssey on March 12 featuring Rob Lott and Yashaswini Singh discussing her recent paper on the effect of p...

Health Affairs ' Jeff Byers welcomes Senior Editor Kathleen Haddad back to the program to discuss two recent reports exploring the impacts of private equity on the US health care system. Health Affairs published an ahead-of-print article from Michelle S. Rockwell and coauthors exploring demographic variation in COVID-19-associated outpatient hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin use and spending throu...