Tradeoffs

A bipartisan bill takes aim at a $500 billion health care problem that few people have ever heard of. Will it make care better for some of the country’s sickest, poorest patients? Guests: U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) Saleema Render-Hornsby, Dually eligible patient Allison Rizer , MBA, Executive Vice President, ATI Advisory Eric Roberts , PhD, Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania Per...

There are a lot of concerns about the dangers artificial intelligence could pose to your health privacy. AI expert Nicholson Price explains why he thinks too much concern over privacy could make health care AI worse. Guest: Nicholson Price , JD, PhD, Professor of Law, University of Michigan Learn more and read a full transcript on our website . Subscribe to our weekly newsletter . Follow us o...

With high health bills drowning patients in debt, some lawmakers want nonprofit hospitals to give away more free care. But experts warn that could wind up being worse for patients.  Guests: Ge Bai , PhD, CPA, Professor of Accounting at Carey Business School, Professor of Health Policy at Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University  Jill Horwitz, PhD, JD, MPP, David Sand...

A handful of states allow terminally ill people to take life-ending medications prescribed by a doctor instead of waiting for death. This week, we talk with journalist Steven Petrow about his sister’s choice to use medical aid in dying. Guest: Steven Petrow , Journalist and author Learn more and read a full transcript on our website . Subscribe to our weekly newsletter . Follow us on X , LinkedIn...

Companies claim they can catch cancer sooner with new blood tests and full-body MRI scans. What are the risks and benefits? Guest: Ishani Ganguli , MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; primary care physician, Brigham and Women's Hospital Learn more and read a full transcript on our website . Subscribe to our weekly newsletter . Follow us on X , LinkedIn and Youtube .&n...

A live conversation between a top federal health official and a health care executive about how they must work together to keep AI from exacerbating racial bias in health care. Guests: Micky Tripathi , PhD, MPP, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services James Ellzy , MD, Chief Health Officer, Oracle Health Government Services Learn more an...

Key court decisions in 2024 about prescription drug prices, abortion bans, gender affirming care and the Affordable Care Act could change the way health care is delivered in America.  Guests: Zach Baron , Co-director of Health Policy and the Law Initiative, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health at Georgetown University Law Center Katie Eyer , Professor at Rutgers Law School  L...

Fentanyl killed 75,000 people in 2022. Now it’s making one of the few treatments for opioid addiction harder to use. Guests: Eric Ezzi , Certified Recovery Specialist, Penn Medicine Ashish Thakrar, MD , Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Leslie Suen, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of California San Francisco Ryan Levi, Reporter/Producer, Tradeoffs  Le...

We've got a lot to share with you in 2024! We're looking into how fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are upending long established treatments for opioid addiction, and what clinicians and policymakers are doing to adapt. There are a bunch of cases in the courts this year that have the potential to change Americans' access to care, and restrict the power of federal health agencies. And nearly 25...

Last fall, the federal government named its first 10 targets for historic drug price negotiations with big pharma. Those negotiations are expected to heat up this February when federal officials make their opening price offers. This week, we offer a refresher on how this negotiation process will work and the impact it could have. Guests: Anton Avanceña , PhD, Assistant Professor of Health Outcomes...

More than 130 hospitals have closed in rural America over the last decade. Reporter Sarah Jane Tribble spent a year embedded in one small Kansas town as they dealt with their own hospital closure. Guest: Sarah Jane Tribble , Senior Correspondent, Kaiser Health News Read a transcript of this conversation: https://tradeoffs.org/2020/10/08/losing-a-hospital/ Hear more of Sarah Jane's reporting about...

From where medical students are choosing to train to how doctors are caring for women in reproductive health crises, the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe has had major ripple effects on the field of medicine. In this conversation from our friends at STAT's First Opinion podcast, host Torie Bosch talks with two abortion providers about what it's like to practice medicine in post-Roe America...

Economist Amy Finkelstein has studied America’s patchwork of health insurance policies for more than 20 years. In a forthcoming book she concludes it’s time tear the whole system down. This week, Dan talks with Amy about how she came to that conclusion and what a better system could look like.  Guest: Amy Finkelstein , PhD, Professor of Economics, MIT Learn more and read a full transcript on...

There’s growing excitement that artificial intelligence can make health care better by speeding up care, improving diagnoses and easing the burden on a burned out workforce. But there are also concerns that these powerful new tools will perpetuate biases and inequities long baked into our health care system. In Part 2 of our special series on racial bias in health care AI, we dig into what the Bid...

There’s growing excitement that artificial intelligence can make health care better by speeding up care, improving diagnoses and easing the burden on a burned out workforce. But there are also concerns that these powerful new tools will perpetuate biases and inequities long baked into our health care system. In the first of two back-to-back episodes on racial bias in health care AI, we explore the...

In this special episode we reflect on a few of our favorite stories of 2023 and hear how they’re making a difference for patients and policymakers.  Guests: Hannah Neprash , PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota School of Public Health Jami Snyder, MA, president and chief executive officer of consulting firm JSN Strategies Learn more and read a full transcript on our website . And...

One out of every four Medicare patients in the hospital is the victim of a medical error. Over the past 20 years, a growing number of hospitals have adopted practices that discuss medical mistakes and offer support to the people who must cope with the often tragic consequences. We examine why experts are calling on the Biden Administration to make patient safety a national priority. &nbs...

Congress banned most surprise medical bills back in 2020, with one major exception: ambulance rides. Most people agree that patients should be shielded from these unexpected charges. But who should pick up the tab instead? As state and federal policymakers grapple with that question, we delve into why finding a fair solution is harder than you’d think. Guests: Tara Bannow , Reporter, STAT Precious...

Health care leaders are spending more time and money trying to improve the way doctors and nurses talk with their patients, to build more trust. Are those efforts working? We eavesdrop on some difficult conversations between patients and providers, and meet researchers who are measuring the power of using just the right words.  This episode first aired in 2019 and remains as relevant as ever....

California’s Medicaid program is two years into the nation’s most ambitious effort yet to cover non-traditional health care services like housing and food for some of the state’s sickest and most vulnerable residents. Everyone expected this transformation — known as CalAIM — to take some time to hit its stride. We dig into CalAIM’s early challenges and what’s being done to right the ship. Guests:...

A wave of new research is showing the promise of psychedelics to help with mental health conditions — like depression and post traumatic stress disorder. The federal government continues to say it’s illegal to use these substances for treatment, but states like Oregon and Colorado are attempting to roll out regulated use. We talk with Mason Marks about the latest research, regulation, and leg...

Every fall, an avalanche of advertising bombards the phones, televisions and mailboxes of the country’s 65 million Medicare beneficiaries. Private insurance companies and brokers unleash this flurry of marketing in hopes of persuading as many people as possible to switch plans during Medicare’s open enrollment period. This week, we explore how too many choices, too little help and an alarming amou...

In 2021, University of Minnesota health economist Hannah Neprash listened to a Tradeoffs story on ransomware in health care and was inspired to study whether cyberattacks actually harm patients. This week, she shares her striking findings, and we revisit the inside story of a ransomware negotiation that sparked her work. Guests: Karen Sprenger , CISSP, GCFE, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Ranso...

Employers are facing a big dilemma: how do they pay for the new highly effective and popular obesity medications without breaking the bank? This week, the questions are forcing companies to re-examine their attitudes on obesity as the understanding of the disease deepens. Guests: Sean Scanlon , Connecticut Comptroller Jeff Levin-Scherz , WTW population health leader Mike Thompson , President of th...

Many of America’s poorest and sickest patients are stuck navigating two separate insurance programs — Medicare and Medicaid — to get the care they need. Guests: Jose Figueroa , MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Jean Minkel , PT, ATP, Senior Vice President of Rehab and Mobility Services, Independence Care System Rochelle Render,...