Podcasts about families usa

What happens when Medi-Cal, a lifeline for 2 in 5 Californians, faces potential cuts? The state's health insurance program is vital for children, low-income families, and seniors. But with Trump back in the White House and a Republican-controlled Congress, sweeping cuts are on the table.  We'll explore the stakes for Californians, look at how the state might respond  and discuss how changes could ripple out into the larger community.  On Political Breakdown, KQED's Leslie McClurg is joined by Anthony Wright, executive director Families USA, a consumer health advocacy organization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This time on Code WACK! What's at stake in health care with the upcoming federal election? Would Donald Trump really try to repeal the Affordable Care Act - again? Would Kamala Harris continue fighting to rein in the skyrocketing cost of medicine? What will be the fate of Biden-era policies like enhanced tax credits limiting the cost of health insurance premiums? Or access to reproductive health care (including contraception)? With so much up in the air, how is Families USA, a leading national, non-partisan voice for healthcare consumers, responding? To find out, we spoke to Anthony Wright, Families USA's new executive director. This is the second episode in a two-part series. Check out the Transcript and Show Notes for more!

  This time on Code WACK!  What's at stake in health care with the upcoming federal election? Would Donald Trump really try to repeal the Affordable Care Act - again? Would Kamala Harris continue fighting to rein in the skyrocketing cost of medicine? What will be the fate of Biden-era policies like enhanced tax credits limiting the cost of health insurance premiums? Or access to reproductive health care (including contraception)? With so much up in the air, how is Families USA, a leading national, non-partisan voice for healthcare consumers, responding? To find out, we spoke to Anthony Wright, Families USA's new executive director. This is the second episode in a two-part series. Check out the Transcript and Show Notes for more!  

What's at stake in health care with the upcoming federal election? Would Donald Trump really try to repeal the Affordable Care Act - again? Would Kamala Harris continue fighting to rein in the skyrocketing cost of medicine? What will be the fate of Biden-era policies like enhanced tax credits limiting the cost of health insurance premiums? Or access to reproductive health care (including contraception)? With so much up in the air, how is Families USA, a leading national, non-partisan voice for healthcare consumers, responding? To find out, we spoke to Anthony Wright, Families USA's new executive director. This is the second episode in a two-part series.

This time on Code WACK! The fight for affordable, accessible health care in the U.S. has gone on for decades. Who's in the fight to win solutions that improve health care for everyone? What policies are they working on? Today we're featuring the Washington DC-based Families USA, a leading national nonpartisan voice for healthcare consumers. We welcome their new executive director, Anthony Wright, who previously served for 22 years as executive director of Health Access California. This is the first episode in a two-part series with Anthony Wright. Check out the Transcript and Show Notes for more!

The fight for affordable, accessible health care in the U.S. has gone on for decades. Who's in the fight to win solutions that improve health care for everyone? What policies are they working on? Today we're featuring the Washington DC-based Families USA, a leading national nonpartisan voice for healthcare consumers. We welcome their new executive director, Anthony Wright, who previously served for 22 years as executive director of Health Access California. This is the first episode in a two-part series with Anthony Wright.

This time on Code WACK!  The fight for affordable, accessible health care in the U.S. has gone on for decades. Who's in the fight to win solutions that improve health care for everyone? What policies are they working on?  Today we're featuring the Washington DC-based Families USA, a leading national nonpartisan voice for healthcare consumers.  We welcome their new executive director, Anthony Wright, who previously served for 22 years as executive director of Health Access California. This is the first episode in a two-part series with Anthony Wright.  Check out the Transcript and Show Notes for more!  

For the 2024 campaign, Joe Biden is out, and Kamala Harris is in. As the vice president makes moves toward the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, health policy is resurging as a campaign issue. Meanwhile, Congress tries — and again fails — to make timely progress on the annual government spending bills as abortion issues cause delays. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Stephanie Armour of KFF Health News, and Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Stat join KFF Health News' Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Anthony Wright, the new executive director of Families USA, about his plans for the organization and his history working with Harris on health topics. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too: Julie Rovner: NPR's “A Study Finds That Dogs Can Smell Your Stress — And Make Decisions Accordingly,” by Rachel Treisman. Alice Miranda Ollstein: Stat's “A Pricey Gilead HIV Drug Could Be Made for Dramatically Less Than the Company Charges,” by Ed Silverman, and Politico's “Federal HIV Program Set To Wind Down,” by Alice Miranda Ollstein and David Lim. Stephanie Armour: Vox's “Free Medical School Won't Solve the Doctor Shortage,” by Dylan Scott. Rachel Cohrs Zhang: Stat's “How UnitedHealth Harnesses Its Physician Empire To Squeeze Profits out of Patients,” by Bob Herman, Tara Bannow, Casey Ross, and Lizzy Lawrence. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This series aims to demystify Medicaid, starting with insights from federal and state agencies, FQHCs, and managed care organizations, before exploring successful founders' strategies. It will start with a primer on the key players and innovations, evolving with new posts featuring interviews and insights. Read more about this series here. Today, we're excited to get to know Eliot Fishman, a director at CMMI who focuses on policy and programs that affect Medicaid beneficiaries. Eliot comes to us with a long history of impact in public health policy. Eliot started his career as a policy associate at Mt. Sinai Health System in NYC and then went on to Manatt, Phelps & Phelps. He transitioned into a management policy role on the provider side again at MJHS, a large health system in the New York Area before he left to join the government.  Eliot then served at NJ Department of Health and Senior Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for several years across different groups on Medicaid, Medicare and CHIP. Eliot also served in consulting roles at Health Management Associates and at nonprofits like Families USA. In this episode, we learn about payment models within CMMI that attempt to foster innovation in care delivery for Medicaid, program and payment integrity and value-based care models as well as how the Federal government collaborates with State governments to improve care delivery.

We're joined today by two guests: first up, Anthony Wright, the longtime Executive Director at Health Access California, who will be leaving soon to take a new position as Executive Director at Families USA in DC. He spoke with us about the new job and his most memorable moments in Sacramento.We also welcome redistricting expert, campaign strategist, and former mayor of Winters, Matt Rexroad, who joins us to talk about the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Worst Week in California Politics. 1:01 Anthony Wright: What is Families USA and why are you leaving?2:41 What the job in DC will look like5:07 "The health system is complex and confusing and Kafkaesue..."5:24 DC is dysfunctional - how do you plan to approach that?8:16 How realistic are current efforts to bring Universal Health Care to California?10:17 "if you take Single Payer seriously... then you need to take the obstacles seriously"11:35 What is exportable from California's experience, and what can California learn from other states?16:25 Who is taking over at Health Access?17:35 A memorable first day in Sacramento19:30 Top memories of 23 years at Health Access22:07 With Trump pledging to repeal the ACA; Are you worried?27:33 #WWCA; Matt Rexroad joins us to look at candidates for an EPIC Worst Week in CA PoliticsWant to support the Capitol Weekly Podcast? Make your tax deductible donation here: capitolweekly.net/donations/ Capitol Weekly Podcast theme is "Pickin' My Way" by Eddie Lang "#WorstWeekCA" Beat provided by freebeats.io  

The most powerful advocacy begins at home. This is the case for Staci Lofton, who loved growing up in Queens, New York but realized as she got older that her family and neighbors had to leave their community to buy groceries, find a doctor and connect to the many resources needed to maintain their lives. As Staci explains on this episode of Power Station, her experience is shared by countless other underinvested Black and Brown communities that lack what research has determined is necessary to thrive: clean air, open spaces, healthy food, a safe environment, and access to community-based health care. As Senior Director of Health Equity at Families USA, a powerhouse national nonprofit, recognized for its leadership in bringing the Affordable Care Act over the finish line and making Medicare drug price negotiations possible, Staci is driven to preserve and expand on these achievements. She talks about what is at stake in our upcoming elections, including women's bodily autonomy and funding for community health centers.  As Staci says, Families USA bring its policy advocacy superpowers to a high stakes fight for justice, health equity and democracy itself.    

The healthcare space has long been a transactional one, seeing patients as numbers instead of human relationships. In 2004, Dr. Rushika Fernandopulle began to challenge the status quo and create an entirely new model of care delivery that finally put patients at the center of healthcare. Rushika Fernandopulle is the co-founder and former CEO of Iora Health, a value-based primary care group based in Boston that was acquired by One Medical in 2021, where he served as Chief Innovation Officer. One Medical was acquired by Amazon earlier this year for close to $4 billion. Rushika currently serves on the staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital, on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, and on the boards of Families USA and the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Care.In this episode, Hercules Capital's Katie Segien is joined by Rushika Fernandopulle to discuss how he created a new delivery model for medicine, Iora Health's business model evolution, going from bootstrapping to six rounds of funding, and other topics.Topics Include:Rushika's mission and experience in transforming healthcareHow he created a new delivery model for medicineIora Health's business model evolutionGoing from bootstrapping to six rounds of fundingRushika's process for building an optimal teamAdvice for entrepreneurs who are struggling to raise capitalAnd other topics…Dr. Rushika Fernandopulle is a practicing physician who has spent decades improving the quality of healthcare delivered to patients. He was co-founder and CEO of Iora Health, a value-based primary care group based in Boston that delivers better quality, lower costs, and improved satisfaction for both patients and providers. Iora was acquired by One Medical in 2021 for over $2 billion, which went on to be acquired by Amazon earlier this year for close to $4 billion.Rushika was the first Executive Director of the Harvard Interfaculty Program for Health Systems Improvement and Managing Director of the Clinical Initiatives Center at the Advisory Board Company. He serves on the staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital, on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, and on the boards of Families USA and the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Care.

Listen now (2 mins) | Quick announcement: Drop Your Lawsuits, Drop Your Prices! Hightower is joining Public Citizen Texas, the Texas Organizing Project, Families USA and many more organizations on Wednesday, August 16th at the Federal Courthouse in Austin to demonstrate against Big Pharma’s greed. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association sued to prevent the Inflation Reduction Act from taking effect; many cities around the country are holding a series of actions calling on pharmaceutical corporations, PhRMA, the U.S. Chamber and other chambers of commerce to drop their lawsuits and instead negotiate lower drug prices.

A conversation with Families USA executive director Frederick Isasi is a masterclass in how to transform our expansive, inefficient, and poorly performing health care system. America spends more money per person on health care than any other nation yet our health outcomes, including some of the world's worst life expectancy and highest infant mortality rates are appalling. In this episode of Power Station, Frederick explains how we got here, starting with just a few decades ago when many families knew and had access to their healthcare providers. That was before the corporatization and consolidation of hospitals and medical practices, which have driven prices sky high and generated substandard outcomes. When hospital pricing is based not on actual costs but on exorbitant CEO salaries, we are all, as health care consumers, harmed. Many Americans opt out of care altogether, ration their medications and carry debilitating medical debt. From ending surprise medical billing to advancing fair drug pricing and hospital price transparency, to demanding access and equity, Families USA is leading a powerful and winning movement for change. Frederick wants all of us to be engaged, skeptical and activated consumers.          

On the radio show this week, we cover the epidemic of gun violence and the next steps we need to take to solve it; get the scoop on prescription drug pricing reform and how relief may soon be coming your way; hear the latest in the childcare crisis and which solutions are moving forward and how; and listen to an update on access to reproductive healthcare and how you can lend a hand!   *Special guest include: Po Murray, Newtown Action Alliance, @NewtownAction; Bailey Reavis, Families USA, @FamiliesUSA; Julie Kashen, The Century Foundation, @TCFdotorg; Tina Sherman, MomsRising, @MomsRising

On the radio show this week, we cover the epidemic of gun violence and the next steps we need to take to solve it; get the scoop on prescription drug pricing reform and how relief may soon be coming your way; hear the latest in the childcare crisis and which solutions are moving forward and how; and listen to an update on access to reproductive healthcare and how you can lend a hand! *Special guest include: Po Murray, Newtown Action Alliance, @NewtownAction; Bailey Reavis, Families USA, @FamiliesUSA; Julie Kashen, The Century Foundation, @TCFdotorg; Tina Sherman, MomsRising, @MomsRising

This is episode 72, "Well-Known and Lesser-Known Problems With Our Healthcare System." In this episode, I discuss some of the well-known and lesser-known problems with the United States healthcare system.  I start by discussing that federal law requires the states to seek reimbursement from Medicaid beneficiaries' estates upon their deaths. While this usually applied to Medicaid beneficiaries who were 55 or older when they received benefits, it can also apply to beneficiaries of any age under certain circumstances.  I also discuss the unnecessary deaths caused by our healthcare system, the high costs of our healthcare system, other economic effects of our healthcare system, how insurance companies deny care, and how doctors often need to fight the insurance companies to get patients the treatments and medications they need.  I end with a discussion of a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report that documents some of the benefits that Medicare for All would provide.  Do not miss this episode as I discuss information you need to know about the United States healthcare system and Medicare for All. More information on the topics discussed in this episode can be found at these links: Information about Medicaid recovering costs can be at these two links: Medicaid Estate Recovery: Long-Term Care Benefits Aren't Necessarily ‘Free' and How Medicaid Recovers the Cost of Long-Term Care From Your Estate After You Die. The referenced Families USA report can be found here: Catastrophic Cost of Uninsurance: COVID-19 Cases and Deaths Closely Tied to America's Health Coverage Gaps. The referenced Commonwealth Fund report can be found here: U.S. Health Insurance Coverage in 2020: A Looming Crisis in Affordability. The referenced CBO report can be found here: Economic Effects of Five Illustrative Single-Payer Health Care Systems.

This is episode 68, “How Tragedy Created a Single-Payer Advocate.” My guest, Scott Desnoyers, became a supporter and advocate for single-payer health care after tragedy struck his family, and his story provides a powerful lesson on why we need Medicare for All.  Do not miss this episode as Mr. Desnoyers explains how tragedy caused him to become an advocate for Medicare for All. Note: As near as I can tell, the numbers from two reports may have been conflated. A Yale study published in February 2020 stated that 68,000 lives would be saved by Medicare for All. Here is the link: https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(19)33019-3/fulltext.  That study also said, "We also project that the Medicare for All Act would save more than 68 500 (68,000) lives every year, compared with the status quo. If the Affordable Care Act were to be repealed, we would expect an additional annual loss of more than 38 500 (38,500) lives. Compared with health-care access before the Affordable Care Act, the legislation proposed by Senator Sanders, would save 107 000 (107,000) lives annually." I think that is where the 100,000 figure came from.  As for 26,000 dying from lack of insurance, I think that figure came from a Families-USA study from June 2012. Here is the link: https://familiesusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Dying-for-Coverage.pdf. That study said, "Across the nation, 26,100 people between the ages of 25 and 64 died prematurely due to a lack of health coverage in 2010.  

What are the fundamental drivers of high costs and low quality care in the U.S. health care system? In this episode, Sophia Tripoli, director of health care innovation at Families USA, describes her organization/s work on value initiatives that focus on re-orienting the health care system to deliver health. She also discusses forwarding consumer-focused policy agendas to improve health care delivery and payment systems.

This week, Matt discusses the importance of including an oral health benefit in Medicare and what ADHA is doing to help make it happen. Joining the conversation, Matt's esteemed guests include Vice President for Grant Making at Care Quest institute, Dr. Michael Monopoli, DMD, MPH, MS, FACD; Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships at Families USA, Melissa Burroughs and Senior Attorney with the Center for Medicare Advocacy, Wey-Wey Kwok.Don't miss this pivotal panel discussion about this monumental opportunity and what you can do to help.   Quotes:   "Medicare is our country's revered Federal health insurance program."   "All together about 63 Million Americans are enrolled in Medicare."   "Dental care generally falls outside of the defined set of benefits that Medicare covers."   "Congress has anpportunity to significantly lower healthcare costs and narrow disparities in healthcare."   "I do continue to hear dental mentioned when legislators talk about the bill."   "The mouth is a part of the body and you really can't have comprehensive benefits if you don't include oral health."   "People in America are very supportive of adding oral care to Medicare."   "Roughly 9 in 10 voters supported adding oral care to medicare, approximately 90% of Democrats and 80% of Republicans."  Links  The health and wellness of the dental hygiene community and the patients you serve is our top priority. We are closely monitoring developments surrounding COVID-19 and will continue to keep you informed. For more information from ADHA, visit https://www.adha.org/covid19.   COVID QUESTION EMAIL: rdhcovidinfo@ahda.net   www.ADHA2021.org    Matt's Email: MattC@ADHA.net  ADHA Annual Report: https://www.adha.org/annual-reports    Visit www.adha.org for membership processing, membership updates, renewals and conference registration! FAQ: https://www.adha2020.org/faq/    American Dental Hygienists' Association homepage:   https://www.adha.org/ ADHA Facebook Page:   https://www.facebook.com/youradha/ The Dental Podcast Network Channel One homepage: http://dentalpodcastnetworkchannelone.otcpn.libsynpro.com/ 

Budget reconciliation and the future of health care.  The Black women who fought to vote. Plus, Bill Press on why the Justice Department should begin a criminal investigation of Donald Trump.   Frederick Isasi of Families USA on why now is the time for Congress to take a stand on lowering health care costs. Historian Martha S. Jones on her new book Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All. Plus Bill Press with legal analyst Barbara McQuade on holding Donald Trump responsible for his actions leading up to January 6. Frederick Isasi  As Democrats' reconciliation bill makes its way through Congress, health advocates will be closely watching. Frederick Isasi says this is an opportunity to make a critical and necessary investment in the health of every American. Martha S. Jones In her newest book, acclaimed historian Martha S. Jones writes about the Black women who fought for the vote, even after the 19th Amendment was passed. It's a little-known history but one that is essential to understanding the evolution of democracy in America. Barbara McQuade Coming up, Bill Press talks with former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade on why a failure to open a criminal investigation into Trump's role in the January insurrection would undermine democracy. If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com  Jim Hightower Let's Create a Bank System That Serves People, Instead of Bankers   Corporate ideologues never cease blathering that government programs should be run like a business.   Really – what businesses would they choose? Pharmaceutical profiteers? Big Oil? Wall Street money manipulators? High tech billionaires? Airline price gougers?

M&M sit down with Sophia Tripoli of Families USA to talk patient engagement, the work of the health equity task force, and how to solve for this country's digital divide.  

  The Shkreli Awards have been published each year, for the past five years and counting, by the Lown Institute. The Shkreli Awards are a much-anticipated top 10 list of the worst examples of profiteering and dysfunction in health care. This year’s list, celebrating the most excellently egregious profiteering in 2020, are unique in the sense that everybody on this list this year—every one of them—decided, deliberately, that a pandemic might be a super opportunistic global stroke of luck to exploit fear and anguish to line their own pockets. The list is named for Martin Shkreli, the price-hiking “pharma bro” that is easy to point to as a model of pure, unadulterated health care profiteering. Here’s the point: Just because you can be clever and shifty enough to make a whole lot of money in health care doesn’t mean you should. Every dollar anyone earns without adding commensurate value back is just one more nail in the financially toxic coffin that patients and employers face in this country—and taxpayers. The Lown Institute is a nonpartisan think tank advocating bold ideas for a just and caring system for health. Their work is centered around four main topics: low-value or unnecessary care, accountability, health equity, and the human connection. In this health care podcast, I am looking so forward to speaking with Vikas Saini, MD, and Shannon Brownlee from the Lown Institute about this year’s Shkreli Award winners. (I wish I had a soundtrack of audience clapping. I’d cue it right now.) There are 10 winners, and we talk about most of them in this episode. You can learn more by connecting with Dr. Saini (@DrVikasSaini) and Shannon (@ShannonBrownlee) on Twitter.  Vikas Saini, MD, is president of the Lown Institute. He is a clinical cardiologist trained by Dr. Bernard Lown at Harvard, where he has taught and done research. He has also been an entrepreneur as scientific cofounder of Aspect Medical Systems, the pioneer in noninvasive consciousness monitoring in the operating room with the BIS device. He was in private practice in cardiology for over 15 years on Cape Cod, where he also founded a primary care physician network participating in global payment contracts. Dr. Saini is board certified in cardiovascular disease, internal medicine, and nuclear cardiology. He has served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, where he initiated the first course focused on policy translation for cardiovascular disease prevention. In April 2012, Dr. Saini convened the Avoiding Avoidable Care Conference with the noted author Shannon Brownlee. This was the first major academic conference focused on the problem of overuse of health care services. Dr. Saini led the international writing group of the Right Care series of papers commissioned by The Lancet and published in January 2017. With Ms. Brownlee, he is a convener of the Right Care Alliance, a grassroots network of physicians, nurses, patient activists, and community leaders dedicated to creating public demand for care that is safe, effective, affordable, and just. Dr. Saini has spoken and presented research about avoiding unnecessary care at professional meetings around the world and has been quoted in numerous print media and on radio and television. Shannon Brownlee is senior vice president of the Lown Institute. She and Lown Institute President Dr. Vikas Saini are cofounders of the Right Care Alliance, a network of activist patients, clinicians, and community leaders devoted to organizing a broad-based movement for a radically better health care system. Before joining the Lown Institute, Brownlee served as acting director of the health policy program at the New America Foundation. As a senior fellow at New America, she published the groundbreaking book, Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer, which was named the best economics book of 2007 by the New York Times. She was a senior writer at US News and World Report and Discover Magazine and is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Congressional Commendation, and was named one of “four writers who changed the world” by the World Congress of Science Journalists. Her stories and essays have appeared in such publications as The Atlantic, New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Times of London, Time, New Republic, Los Angeles Times, BMJ, The Lancet, and Health Affairs. Brownlee is a nationally recognized speaker, has been featured in several documentary films, and has appeared on such broadcast outlets as ABC World News, Good Morning America, Fox News, NPR, and The Diane Rehm Show and is quoted regularly in the press. She is the author of several peer-reviewed articles in medical journals and has served on numerous scientific panels, working groups, and roundtables. From 2014-2016, she was an editor of the “Less is More” section of JAMA Internal Medicine and was a lecturer from 2011-2014 at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. She is currently a member of the boards of the Robert Graham Center of the American Academy of Family Practice and Families USA and is a visiting scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Brownlee holds a master’s degree in marine science from the University of California, Santa Cruz. 02:51 “COVID was like … just a glare of x-ray that revealed everything … going on in the health care system.” 05:14 “There’s always profiteering whenever there’s a buck to be made.” 05:33 Is profiteering in the health care system deteriorating? 06:07 How did the winners of the 2020 Shkreli Awards get chosen? 07:18 “The categories that this falls into is really the stakeholders in health care.” 08:11 What did Connecticut internist Steven Murphy, MD, do to earn his place at #8 on the awards list? 09:29 How did big pharma companies (some of which have been developing COVID vaccines) like Pfizer get on the Shkreli Awards list? 11:16 “We do have to start asking some hard questions about who is supposed to benefit from the … public funding that goes into these kinds of products—vaccines and drugs.” 12:49 “The thing about private equity … is that the business model really is profiteering in health care.” 19:43 Why did the federal government win the first place in the Shkreli Awards? 24:13 “Most of this is not illegal. It’s merely unethical.” 26:56 “There really is a radically better health care system that’s possible, but we’re not really going to get there if people are shy about talking publicly about some of these issues.” You can learn more by connecting with Dr. Saini (@DrVikasSaini) and Shannon (@ShannonBrownlee) on Twitter.  @DrVikasSaini and @ShannonBrownlee discuss the 2020 Shkreli Awards on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #digitalhealth #valuebasedcare #profiteering “COVID was like … just a glare of x-ray that revealed everything … going on in the health care system.” @DrVikasSaini and @ShannonBrownlee discuss the 2020 Shkreli Awards on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #digitalhealth #valuebasedcare #profiteering “There’s always profiteering whenever there’s a buck to be made.” @DrVikasSaini and @ShannonBrownlee discuss the 2020 Shkreli Awards on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #digitalhealth #valuebasedcare #profiteering How did the winners of the 2020 Shkreli Awards get chosen? @DrVikasSaini and @ShannonBrownlee discuss the 2020 Shkreli Awards on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #digitalhealth #valuebasedcare #profiteering “The categories that this falls into is really the stakeholders in health care.” @DrVikasSaini and @ShannonBrownlee discuss the 2020 Shkreli Awards on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #digitalhealth #valuebasedcare #profiteering How did big pharma companies (some of which have been developing COVID vaccines) like Pfizer get on the Shkreli Awards list? @DrVikasSaini and @ShannonBrownlee discuss the 2020 Shkreli Awards on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #digitalhealth #valuebasedcare #profiteering “We do have to start asking some hard questions about who is supposed to benefit from the … public funding that goes into these kinds of products—vaccines and drugs.” @DrVikasSaini and @ShannonBrownlee discuss the 2020 Shkreli Awards on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #digitalhealth #valuebasedcare #profiteering “The thing about private equity … is that the business model really is profiteering in health care.” @DrVikasSaini and @ShannonBrownlee discuss the 2020 Shkreli Awards on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #digitalhealth #valuebasedcare #profiteering Why did the federal government win the first place in the Shkreli Awards? @DrVikasSaini and @ShannonBrownlee discuss the 2020 Shkreli Awards on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #digitalhealth #valuebasedcare #profiteering “Most of this is not illegal. It’s merely unethical.” @DrVikasSaini and @ShannonBrownlee discuss the 2020 Shkreli Awards on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #digitalhealth #valuebasedcare #profiteering “There really is a radically better health care system that’s possible, but we’re not really going to get there if people are shy about talking publicly about some of these issues.” @DrVikasSaini and @ShannonBrownlee discuss the 2020 Shkreli Awards on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #digitalhealth #valuebasedcare #profiteering

On the #RADIO show this week we cover a newly launched LGBTQ anti-poverty campaign; protecting and getting kids' access to back-to-school nutrition programs in the time of COVID-19 — and what you can do to make sure children don’t go hungry; the need for Congress to pass a robust COVID-19 relief package and to advance healthcare for everyone; and how you can help get out the vote!   *Special guests include: Tyrone Hanley, National Center for Lesbian Rights, @NCLRights; Crystal FitzSimons, FRAC, @fractweets; Frederick Isasi, Families USA, @FamiliesUSA; and Donna Norton, MomsRising, @MomsRising.org.

On the #RADIO show this week we cover a newly launched LGBTQ anti-poverty campaign; protecting and getting kids' access to back-to-school nutrition programs in the time of COVID-19 — and what you can do to make sure children don’t go hungry; the need for Congress to pass a robust COVID-19 relief package and to advance healthcare for everyone; and how you can help get out the vote! *Special guests include: Tyrone Hanley, National Center for Lesbian Rights, @NCLRights; Crystal FitzSimons, FRAC, @fractweets; Frederick Isasi, Families USA, @FamiliesUSA; and Donna Norton, MomsRising, @MomsRising.org.

Sophia Tripoli (@SophiaTripoli) is the Director of Healthcare Innovations at Families USA a national non-partisan, non-profit voice for healthcare consumers (@FamiliesUSA). Sophia joins Josh to share how Families USA is working to realign incentives to make healthcare more consumer-centered. They discuss different healthcare payment models and levers of change to lower costs and improve health outcomes.

On this episode of The Critical Hour, co-hosts Dr. Wilmer Leon and Garland Nixon talk with Dr. Yolandra Hancock, a board-certified pediatrician, about the Trump administration's recommendation to have the National Guard work on coronavirus data. As the COVID-19 case numbers continue to soar across the US, one would think that collecting accurate data would be paramount. What is the response to the Trump administration's suggestion to employ the National Guard to help collect such information? A Tuesday article in Common Dreams said that 5.4 million Americans have lost their health insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Citing an estimate by Families USA, the outlet reported, "Amid the worst public health crisis in a century and a devastating economic downturn that has thrown tens of millions out of work, more than five million people in the US lost their health insurance in just three months this year." What's the immediate impact of this and what will be the ripple effects? On Tuesday, after an intense court struggle, "federal officials executed Daniel Lewis Lee, 47, who was convicted in 1999 of killing a family of three, at a penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana," the Washington Post reported. "Lee was pronounced dead at 8:07 a.m. Tuesday, the Bureau of Prisons said." A stay of execution had been ordered Monday by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who said legal issues had yet to be resolved and that “the public is not served by short-circuiting legitimate judicial process.” In a 5-4 decision handed down by the Supreme Court at 2 a.m. on Tuesday, the stay was overturned, and Lee was executed. What are we to make of this? A Tuesday headline in The Grayzone read: "Blockbuster oil bribery scandal exposes corrupt double-dealing of Guaidó so-called ‘attorney general'" – what are we to make of this? For insight we turn to the piece's author, Anya Parampil. She is a journalist based in Washington, DC, and has produced and reported several documentaries, including on-the-ground reports from the Korean Peninsula, Palestine, Venezuela and Honduras. "A new biometric identity platform partnered with the Gates-funded GAVI vaccine alliance and Mastercard will launch in West Africa and combine COVID-19 vaccinations, cashless payments and potential law enforcement applications," MintPress News reported on July 10 in an article titled "Africa to Become Testing Ground for 'Trust Stamp' Vaccine Record and Payment System." What is this “Trust Stamp” system, and why is it of concern?"Three of the biggest US banks [Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup] have set aside almost $28 billion amid concerns about customers defaulting on loans due to the pandemic," the BBC reported on Tuesday. "JPMorgan said it expected the US unemployment rate to remain at nearly 11% at the end of the year, compared to the 6.6% it forecast in April. The bank said it had set aside more than $10 billion for losses, including nearly $9 billion to build its reserves." These three banks have suffered real losses this past quarter. Are these banks correct in warning of a coming economic downturn? Is this of concern? "The Houthi health ministry spokesman said air raids by a Saudi-led coalition hit residential houses in the al-Hazm district, killing nine people including two children and two women," Reuters reported Wednesday about airstrikes in Yemen. "Two residents told Reuters seven people had been killed." This is the "third such incident since June as violence resurges in the war-damaged country," the outlet noted. Geopolitical analyst and content strategist Randi Nord tells us more about this issue. And in our final segment, author Danny Haiphong discusses his new book, "American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People's History of Fake News." Guests: Dr. Yolandra Hancock - Board-certified pediatrician and obesity medicine specialist Joel Segal - Co-founder of and current board member for Progressive Democrats of America, as well as attorney and co-author of the “Medicare for All” bill HR676 Margaret Kimberley - Black Agenda Report editor and senior columnist Anya Parampil - Washington, DC-based journalist and writer for The Grayzone Dr. Clarence Lusane - Political scientist, former chair of Howard University's Political Science Department, author, professor and activist Dr. Jack Rasmus - Economist and professor of economics at St. Mary's College in California Randi Nord - Founder and editor of Geopolitics Alert, geopolitical analyst and content strategist Danny Haiphong - Writer, political analyst and author of "American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People's History of Fake News"

Art displaying solidarity between Indigenous & Black activists, from Instagram post by @99rootz On this show: 0:08 – 5.4 million people in the U.S. lost their health insurance coverage during Covid-19, and premiums are expected to skyrocket next year, including in the marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act. We speak with Stan Dorn (@standorn), director of the National Center for Coverage Innovation at Families USA.  0:34 – CA Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced statewide closures of all bars, and indoor dining, movies, cardrooms and more. The state's re-closing as hospitalizations have surged due to Covid-19 — are Newsom's actions enough, and do they come too late? Art Reingold, the Division Head of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, joins us.  0:45 – The Washington, D.C. NFL team has dropped a vicious anti-Indigenous racial slur from its name, after years of organizing and legal action by Indigenous organizers and tribal nations as well as court cases. But Jacqueline Keeler (@jfkeeler) says this moment is only possible because of the reckoning caused by the Black activists organizing after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Keeler is a writer and activist of Diné and Ihanktonwan Dakota heritage, co-founder of Eradicating Offensive Native Mascotry, and editor in chief of Pollen Nation Magazine. 1:08 – Martinez held a peaceful 2,000-person-strong march for Black lives on Sunday, despite threats of racist counterprotesters and over the objections of the mayor and the police department. Sevgi Fernandez founded Together We Stand, an organization dedicated to dismantling racism, discrimination and police brutality, and organized Sunday's protest in Martinez — she joins us to talk about what happened. 1:34 – Berkeley High students on Monday held a ten-hour campout at the city police department building to demand the police department be defunded by at least 50%. We air voices of those students and talk with Cheryl Davila, Berkeley City Councilmember for District 2, who has an item before the city council today to substantially defund the police. Davila also shares her own experience with traffic stops in Berkeley — activists say traffic stops are often racially motivated and lead to deadly police encounters between officers and Black and Brown residents. Another measure before Berkeley City Council today would take police out of traffic stops. The public can find the agenda and information about participating in the meeting here. 1:49 – What is it like to bike while Black in Berkeley? Reporter Danielle Kaye spoke with Black Berkeley residents who have been policed. The post How Indigenous and Black organizing pushed Washington's NFL team to drop its racist slur name; Newsom re-closes businesses across California; Meet the Berkeley councilwoman trying to defund police appeared first on KPFA.

Families USA, the health care advocacy group which put out this study, says there are about 5.4 million people who have fallen between the cracks in the system. School districts everywhere are weighing the safety and monetary costs and benefits of reopening. And, for people leaving prisons right now, reentry is especially hard with fewer jobs open and support systems strained.

If you want to understand why the United States has the most expensive and worst performing health care system among developed countries, in terms of access, equity, efficiency, and outcomes, you have a unique and vital resource in Families USA. For forty years, this national nonprofit has investigated every aspect of our broken bureaucracy, from the cost of prescription drugs to the politicization of Medicare to the implicit bias deep within our delivery systems. And it has used this understanding to inform and engage consumers, from those willing to share their lived experiences to community-based health organizations in every state to the media and policymakers in state houses and on Capitol Hill. Families USA Executive Director Frederick Isasi joins Power Station to talk about how the powerful stressor that is COVID19 has rocked this fragile system and exposed its profound weaknesses. He believes in, and Families USA is based on, a theory of change that honors the perspective and experience of many while working towards justice for all. This is the story of our times.  

Ryan and Sandy welcome Families USA’s Cheryl Fish-Parcham to the show to discuss how folks can find medical coverage in the face of job loss. Sandy and Ryan share ways to avoid a new wave of ID theft and talk credit reports and tax software in a new edition of Deal of No Deal. --LINKS-- ID Theft – act now to protect yourself: https://www.kiplinger.com/article/credit/T048-C000-S002-identity-theft-act-now-to-protect-yourself.html; Kiplinger special report on health care and insurance: https://www.kiplinger.com/fronts/special-report/health-care-insurance/index.html; The Families USA guide to finding health insurance: https://familiesusa.org/resources/are-you-uninsured-during-the-covid-19-crisis-what-you-need-to-know-about-finding-health-insurance-getting-tested-and-getting-care/; Best tax software values for 2020: https://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/taxes/T056-S001-best-tax-software-values/index.html; Take charge of your credit: https://www.kiplinger.com/article/credit/T017-C000-S002-take-charge-of-your-credit.html

We discuss Governor Evers’ State of the State speech. Claire and Robert tell us about the Families USA healthcare conference they are attending this week and we dive into a deeper discussion of Trump’s failure to deliver on lowering prescription drug prices. We talk about the 2 new open state Senate seats following the announced retirements of Democratic Senators, Dave Hansen and Mark Miller. We close with a discussion of the disappointing Wisconsin Association of School Boards’ rejection of the proposal to retire Native mascots in Wisconsin schools.

We talk all the time about employee benefits for the evolving global workforce, but the truth is that benefits are important for more than just workers. For example, many covered lives are those of the spouses and children of workers with job-based health insurance. The voice of these families in Washington DC belongs to Frederick Isasi and his colleagues at Families USA, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose stated mission is “the achievement of high-quality, affordable health care and improved health for all.” In May of this year, Families USA launched Consumers First, a broad, multi-stakeholder alliance that seeks to address the fundamental economic incentives and design of the health care system. The American Benefits Council serves on the steering committee of Consumers First. As Families USA’s executive director, Isasi wants to make the American health care system work better for all the money we pour into it. In this episode, Isasi talks to host Jason Hammersla about ways to “build a better health care engine” instead of putting more gas in the tank.

On the #RADIO show this week we talk about fair pay and soccer, hear about why healthcare is under threat again and what you can do about it,  get the inside scoop on what’s happening with access to abortion care, and get breaking news on the Mom Platform!   *Special guests include: Maya Raghu, National Women’s Law Center, @nwlc; Claire McAndrew, Families USA, @FamiliesUSA; Shaunna Thomas, UltraViolet, @UltraViolet; and Nina Perez, MomsRising, @MomsRising 

Suzanne calls Frederick Isasi, Executive Director of Families USA, to understand the aspects of today’s health care insurance landscape that are putting the greatest strain on families. They discuss prescription drug costs and solutions, the comeback of short term and association health plans, and how health care purchasers share the same concerns as individual patients. Frederick, who helped write the Affordable Care Act, clears up any lingering doubts about the bipartisan nature of this hot topic.

We've paid a lot of attention this year to the bill that would “Repeal and Replace” the Affordable Care Act but that is not the only bill related to health care that is moving through Congress. In this episode, learn about the other health care bills that have made it just as far as the Repeal and Replace bill, including one that is already law. Also in this episode, we laugh at the Senate for inventing holidays and doing so in the dumbest way possible. Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute using credit card, debit card, PayPal, or Bitcoin Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD123: Health or Profits CD145: Price of Health Care CD151: AHCA - The House Version Bills Outline Laws H.J. Res. 430: Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the final rule submitted by Secretary of Health and Human Services relating to compliance with title X requirements by project recipients in selecting subrecipients. Overturns a rule finalized by the Obama Administration that would have prevented States from cutting off Federal funds for "family-planning services". Bills In Progress H.R. 372: Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2017 Repeals an antitrust exemption that currently applies to health and dental insurance Allows antitrust exemptions for life insurance, and property or casualty insurance H.R. 1101: Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2017 Orders the Executive Branch to use regulations to create a procedure for certifying Association Health Plans (AHPs), which are not regulated like the state small group health insurance markets. Association Health Plans and the insurance companies that provide coverage will select the services included and their decisions are exempt from State laws. Creates a fund that will pay insurers to continue coverage if the plans disappears. The fund can be raided by the Executive Branch to pay for other things "whenever the Secretary determines that the moneys of the fund are in excess of current needs." A working group would be created to write the regulations. The applications for plans will include the States in which the plan intends to do business. If the association plan becomes insolvent, the government will become the trustee and can try to fix the plan, cancel the plan entirely, and can invest the plans assets. Would become effective one year after being signed into law and enactment regulations would be created by the Secretary of Labor. H.R. 1215: Protecting Access to Care Act of 2017 Enacts a statue of limitations on filing health care lawsuits which would be one year after the injury is discovered but never more than three years after the malpractice occurred The states can make the statue of limitations shorter Limits non-economic damages (such as pain, suffering, physical impairment, disfigurement, and mental anguish) to $250,000, "regardless of the number of parties against whom the action is brought or the number of separate claims or actions brought with respect to the same injury." "The jury shall note be informed about the maximum award for noneconomic damages." States will have the ability to adjust this number, up or down. Actual economic losses (such as medical expenses, past and future earnings losses, and loss of employment) in health care lawsuits will remain unlimited. Each guilty party in a health care lawsuit will only be held liable for the percentage of the damages in direct proportion to that party's percentage of responsibility. Doctors who prescribe a medicine that has been approved by the FDA can't be sued along with manufacturers, distributors, or sellers in product liability lawsuits Any statements or conduct expressing "fault" (along with apology, sympathy, etc.) made by a health care provider in regards to an unexpected medical outcome "shall be inadmissible" for any purpose as evidence of an admission of liability. States are allowed to make other communications inadmissible too. The statute of limitations would be effective immediately upon enactment and the limits on damages will be for all lawsuits started after the law is signed. Additional Reading Document: H.R. 1628 Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act of 2017 Cost Estimate, Congressional Budget Office, July 19, 2017. Article: The Washington Post's New Social Media Policy Forbids Disparaging Advertisers by Andrew Beaujon, Washingtonian, June 27, 2017. Document: H.R. 1628 Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 Cost Estimate, Congressional Budget Office, June 26, 2017. Document: H.R. 1628 American Health Care Act of 2017 Cost Estimate, Congressional Budget Office, May 24, 2017. Article: Examining The Final Market Stabilization Rule: What's There, What's Not, And How Might It Work? by Timothy Jost, Health Affairs Blog, April 14, 2017. Document: Guidance to States on Review of Qualified Health Plan Certification Standards in Federally-facilitated Marketplaces for Plan Years 2018 and Later, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, April 13, 2017. Article: Treasury Inspector General Assesses ACA-Related Tax Issues by Timothy Jost, Health Affairs Blog, April 11, 2017. Document: Compliance With Title X Requirements by Project Recipients in Selecting Subrecipients by Department of Health and Human Services, Federal Register, Vol. 81, No. 243, December 19, 2016. Article: Is the ACA the GOP health care plan from 1993? by Jon Greenberg, Politifact, November 15, 2013. References American Civil Liberties Union: Public Funding for Abortion GovTrack: Health Bills Tracker Cornell Law School: 15 U.S. Code § 1013 Kevin McCarthy Majority Leader website: Health Care Phase 3: The Small Business Health Fairness Act ConsumersUnion: Letter to the House Opposing the Small Business Health Fairness Act OpenSecrets: Clients lobbying on H.R. 1215 American Medical Association: Support for House-Passed Bill on Medical Liability Google: UnitedHealth Group Stock US Senate Financial Disclosure: James Inhofe Stock Purchases American Health Insurance Plans: Letter to President Trump Dept of Health and Human Services: Letter to Governor regarding Medicaid Medicaid: About Section 1115 Demonstrations Washington Post: About WP Brandstudio Videos CSPAN: Pres. Trump Remarks on Senate Republican Health Care Bill YouTube: Hell to the Nah! Sound Clip Sources Hearing: Rules Committee Hearing, House of Representatives Committee on Rules, February 14, 2017. Timestamps & Transcripts 6:40 Rep. Jim McGovern (MA): I’ll make the point I continue to make about the process. Both of these rules, or protections, went through a long process, and whether you agree with them or not, there was a process. Here we are; the committees with jurisdiction did no hearings on this, have basically—there’ll be no opportunity for review. We know what the outcome is going to be: two more closed rules. So it’s kind of this whole hearing is kind of pointless because, again, the process is going to be the most restrictive that it can be. 9:40 Rep. Tim Walberg (MI): As you know, Title X is the only domestic federal program that provides grants for family-planning services. Grants go directly to states and non-governmental organizations, which then distribute money among healthcare providers. Over half of the grantees are state and local governmental agencies, which serve as intermediaries to distribute funding to subgrantees. Prior to this rule, states were free to direct their Title X funds to healthcare providers that did not participate in abortion. When states had this freedom, they were able to choose to invest in women’s health care instead of abortion. The new rule blocks states from restricting grants to potential recipients for reasons other than the ability to provide Title X services. Under this rule, states are prevented from establishing criteria that would eliminate abortion providers from receiving Title X grant money. Hearing: H.R. 372, the "Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2017", House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, February 16, 2017. Timestamps & Transcripts 10:15 Rep. John Conyers (MI): I am pleased that the subcommittee’s first hearing of this new Congress is on H.R. 372, the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2017, which repeals the antitrust exemption in the McCarran-Ferguson Act for the health insurance business. For many years I’ve advocated for such a repeal, so I’m heartened to see the bipartisan nature of the support for this position. 11:50 Rep. John Conyers (MI): Congress passed McCarran-Ferguson Act in response to a 1944 Supreme Court decision, finding that antitrust laws applied to the business of insurance, like everything else. Both insurance companies and the states expressed concern about that decision. Insurance companies worried that it would jeopardize certain collective practices like joint-rate setting and a pooling of historical data, and the states were concerned about losing their authority to regulate and tax the business of insurance. To address these concerns, McCarran-Ferguson provided the federal antitrust laws apply to the business of insurance only to the extent that it is not regulated by state law, which has resulted in a broad antitrust exemption. Industry and state revenue concerns, rather than the key goals of protecting competition and consumers, were the primary drivers of the Act. In passing McCarran-Ferguson, Congress, however, initially intended to provide only a temporary exemption and, unfortunately, gave little to consideration to ensuring competition. 26:15 Rep. Austin Scott (GA): Be definition, health care and health insurance are not the same thing. But when one insurance company controls such significant portions of the cash flow of all of the providers in a region, no provider can stay in business without a contract with that carrier. Therefore, the insurance company gets to determine who is and who is not able to provide health care: sign a contract with a competing carrier, and we’ll cancel your contract. Accept the lower reimbursement, or we’ll cancel your contract. It’s closer to extortion than negotiation. Hearing: Legislative Proposals to Improve Health Care Coverage, House Committee on Education and Workforce, March 1, 2017. Witnesses Allison Klausner: American Benefits Council, which represents Fortune 500 companies Lydia Mitts: Associate Director of Affordability at Families USA, a consumer advocate org. Jay Ritchie: Executive VP of Toko Marine HCC-Stop Loss Group & Chairman of the Self-Insurance Institute of America Jon Hurst: President of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts Timestamps & Transcripts 25:50 Rep. Virginia Foxx (NC): Ultimately, they are fighting to maintain government control—government control over the kind of health insurance you can buy, government control over the kind of health insurance employers can and cannot offer workers, government control over the doctors you can see and the doctors you can’t see, and government control over certain healthcare benefits that many individuals may not need. Yet despite the cost and pain inflicted on so many Americans by Obamacare, the answer for some is still more government control. 47:35 Lydia Mitts: The second bill I would like to speak to is the Small Business Health Fairness Act. This bill would exempt association health plans from adhering to critical state and federal requirements for small-group coverage. These requirements have benefited small employers and their workers alike. They include protections that prevent plans from charging small employers exorbitantly higher premiums because their employees have poor health, are older, or are disproportionately women. They also include requirements that plans cover comprehensive benefits that meet the needs of a diverse workforce. By allowing association health plans to ignore these key protections, this bill would increase premiums and threaten stable access to comprehensive coverage for many small employers and their workers. Employers with a young workforce that is in pristine health may be able to get lower premiums. However, the rest of small businesses would see coverage become less affordable, whether they sought it through an association or the existing small-group market. On top of this, employees move to association plans would be at risk of facing skimpier coverage that doesn’t cover the care they need. 1:41:20 Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (OR): Ms. Mitts, the ACA included, as we know, unprecedented new consumer protections for patients, such as eliminating annual and lifetime limits, preventing insurers from dropping people when they get sick, charging women higher premiums. What will happen to these protections in association health plans? Lydia Mitts: Under the bill put forth to you today, those association health plans would no longer have to comply with so many of those rating protections that have been a huge benefit to many small businesses that prior before the Affordable Care Act actually had a really hard time finding affordable coverage for their employees because they employed employees who actually had healthcare needs, who were maybe older, and the market didn’t work for them before. And so we would move back to a situation where we’d have a segmented market, and people who are healthy, in pristine health, could move into an association health plan. I think the thing that’s important to keep in mind is that that doesn’t mean that association health plan would always be there and work for that small employer. If their workforce got older, claims went up, they might find that that association health plan charges them more, and it’s not a viable option for them anymore. Bonamici: Can you address—I know there’ve been some solvency concerns about some of the association health plans. Can you address that concern as well? Mitts: Yeah, there’s historically been concerns about association health plans not having adequate solvency funds. They have leaner, less rigid requirements than typical health insurance coverage. Partially state oversight was added to that to help address some of these problems, bigger problems, where they were just under ERISA. And when an association plan goes insolvent, their employers and their workers are still left with all of those unpaid medical claims and then on the hook for them. And if the plans are not under state jurisdiction, they won’t be able to benefit from state guaranty funds that help pay those claims, so they’ll be left on the hook for them. Hearing: H.R. 1215 Hearing-Part 1, House Committee on the Judiciary, February 28, 2017. Timestamps & Transcripts 44:20 Rep. Steve King (IA): One of the drivers of higher healthcare spending is defensive medicine. It’s a very real phenomenon confirmed by countless studies in which healthcare workers conduct many additional costly tests and procedures with no medical value that are charged to the federal taxpayers and to other consumers simply to avoid excessive litigation costs. 45:25 Rep. Steve King (IA): They include the following: a bedside sonogram with an “official sonogram” because it’s easier to defend yourself to a jury if you’ve ordered the second sonogram; a CT scan for every child who bumped his head, or her head, to rule out things that can be diagnosed just fine by observation; x-rays that do not guide treatment such as for a simple broken arm; or CT scans for suspected appendicitis that has been perfectly well diagnosed without it. In fact, I have an orthopedic surgeon who has said to me that when he has a knee injury, 97% of the tests that he orders are protection from malpractice. He knows what he’s going to operate on before he actually starts the surgery. 51:55 Steve Cohen: And if we want to make health care cheaper, which we should, and make it more affordable, we ought to have a single-payer system. That would make it more affordable. And if that’s the nexus that makes this law applicable for the federal government to usurp the states, and the Chairman said that the nexus was that it makes things cheaper and anything makes health care cheaper is so important that we need to take it away from the states, well, if you’re concerned about cost, you should be for a single-payer system, and that would make it cheaper and take profits away from insurance companies that right now are paying for ads to get people to buy drugs and making immense profits and having their executives draw salaries in the areas of 40 and 50 million dollars. This bill takes away from people who are hurt by medical malpractice in ways that are artificial and wrong, and we should not be on the side of those people who commit medical malpractice and cause injuries to others. With all of that said, I respectfully suggest that the agenda we’re following is not the agenda of the American people at the present time, and it’s the agenda of the American Medical Association, who’s here today, and this is the bill du jour. Hearing: Tom Price, HHS Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Request, Senate Finance Committee, June 8, 2017. Timestamps & Transcripts 44:37 Sen. Tom Carper (DE): And I like those ideas. I studied a little bit of economics at Ohio State as navy ROTC midshipman. I like market forces. I like trying to harness market forces and make them work. You came up with a good idea in 1993, and I just wish to heck that you would work with us to try to make sure that those good ideas have a chance of working. And the reason why the marketplaces are failing in places, like you mentioned Ohio in your statement, Mr. Chairman, the reason why they’re not working, we’ve basically undermined the individual mandate so that people will know if they really have to get coverage. Young people aren’t. We’ve taken off the training wheels, so to stabilize the marketplaces and insurance companies. They lost their shirts in 2014 because of it. They lost less money in 2015. Got better. They raised their premiums, they raised their copays, they raised their deductibles, and they did better in it. And tells that rather than the marketplaces being a death spiral at the end of 2016, they’re actually recovering, until a new administration came in and said, well, we’re not sure if we’re going to enforce the individual mandate, and, by the way, we don’t know for sure whether they’re going to extend the cost-sharing arrangements. That provides unpredictable lack of certainty for the insurance companies. What do they do? They say, we’re going to raise our premiums more. What you’re destabilizing, the very idea that these guys came up with 24 years ago. Sen. Orrin Hatch (UT): Well, if I could just interrupt for a second. Those were ideas that were against—it was part of the anti-Hillary care bill, and it— Carper: They were good ideas. Tom Price: Well— Carper: And I commend you for them. If my life depended on telling what Hillary care did, I couldn’t tell you. But I know what your bill did, and, frankly, there were good ideas, and now we’re undermining undercutting them. Why? Dr. Price, why? Price: Senator, I appreciate the observation. I would add to that that there are significant challenges out there, and there were so before this administration started. In your state alone, premiums were up 108% before this administration started. In your state alone, there were fewer insurance companies offering coverage on the exchange before this administration started. So what we’re trying to do is to address especially that individual and small-group market that is seeing significant increases in premiums, increases in deduct— Carper: What are you doing? What are you doing to doing? How are you stabilizing the marketplaces? Price: Well, we— Carper: Just give us some ideas. The three Rs. What are you doing on those? Reinsurance, risk adjustment, risk corridors. What are you doing there? Price: We passed it—or we put in place a market-stabilization rule earlier this year that identified the special enrollment periods and the grace periods to make certain that they were more workable for both individuals and for insurance companies. We allowed the states greater flexibility in determining what a qualified health plan was, to try to provide greater stability for the market. We put out word to all governors across this nation on both 1115 and 1332 waivers and suggestions regarding what they can do to allow for greater market stabilization in their states, and we look forward to working with you and other senators to try to make certain that all those individuals, not just in the individual and small-group market but every single American has the opportunity to gain access to the kind of coverage that works for them and their families. Sen. Mazie Hirono designated February 3rd as "National Wear Red Day." This is what she wore. Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations

Independent investigative journalism, broadcasting, trouble-making and muckraking with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com

Independent investigative journalism, broadcasting, trouble-making and muckraking with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com

Everyone can agree that our current healthcare model is broken. But the question is, can we fix it from the inside? or do we need to start from scratch? My next guest, Dr. Rushika Fernandopulle believes in order to best address the looming crisis, we need to reimagine health care from the ground up, and build new primary care models from scratch. He is the founder of Iora Health, a next generation primary care practice designed to restore the humanity in healthcare. In recent weeks, we have seen similar primary care models like Qliance and Turntable Health fold under unsustainable business models. By what makes Iora Health different and successful to date? On this episode, Dr. Fernandopulle will share his secret sauce to success, what he believes is broken in primary care, what the future holds for quality medical care, and the inspirational backstory that led him to start Iora Health.  All this and more on today’s episode. Now, That’s Unusual. About Dr. Rushika Fernandopulle Dr. Rushika Fernandopulle is a practicing physician and co-founder and CEO of Iora Health, a healthcare services firm based in Cambridge MA whose mission is to build a radically new model of primary care to improve quality and service and reduce overall expenditures. In 2012 he was named an Ashoka Global Fellow, and is also a member of the Albert Schweitzer and Salzburg Global Fellowships. He was the first Executive Director of the Harvard Interfaculty Program for Health Systems Improvement, and Managing Director of the Clinical Initiatives Center at the Advisory Board Company. He is co-author or editor of several publications including Health Care Policy, a textbook for physicians and medical students, and Uninsured in America: Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity. He serves on the staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital, on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, and on the boards of Families USA and the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Care. He earned his A.B., M.D., and M.P.P. (Masters in Public Policy) from Harvard University, and completed his clinical training at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts General Hospital. Key Interview Takeaways Although innovations in technology continue to evolve the healthcare space, the way we deliver care has remained stagnant. Healthcare is a series of fragmented transactions, and outcomes are not the focus. Dr. Fernandopulle’s motivation to tackle this issue came from a colleague’s plea, “Every day, I lose a little piece of my soul.” Most enter the medical profession with the intention of helping people, but the system gets in the way. “Half-ass, incremental change doesn’t work.” Dr. Fernandopulle had the simple insight that starting over was the only approach, and Iora seeks to rebuild healthcare from the ground up, starting with primary care. Dr. Fernandopulle set out to replicate the Southwest Airlines paradigm: Show up in the market, break the rules, and compel others to change in order to keep up. His mission is to transform healthcare by building a different model and demonstrating this new approach for others to follow. Iora operates on the idea that the doctor’s job is to radically empower her patients, giving them the tools to improve and maintain health in a system that keeps learning and adapts quickly. The most difficult part of developing the Iora model was designing the payment system. Dr. Fernandopulle rejects the fee-for-service model, and he sought payers (employers, union trusts, etc.) who were willing to pay for the relationship rather than individual transactions. The Iora system has been cost-effective in terms of patient/team experience, clinical outcomes, cost of care, and economic sustainability. Iora practices have 96-98% retention rates, and they have experienced 40-50% drops in hospitalizations. Behavior change is a slow process. The Iora model invests more money in patients early on, but typically sees big savings in healthcare costs by year three.

Lost in the current debate over health care are the consistent health disparities between communities of color and white communities. What are the disparities under the ACA, and how might they be made worse under the new health bill, the AHCA? Host Julio Ricardo Varela leads a discussion with Callie Crossley, the host of Under the Radar on WGBH Radio, and Sinsi Hernández-Cancio, Director of Health Equity at Families USA, a nonprofit, nonpartisan health advocacy organization. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bill Press welcomes Ron Pollack, Jon Allen, & Clare Foran to discuss the need for Donald Trump to recognize Russia's involvement in hacking the election, the effect an Obamacare repeal would have on American families, Meryl Streep's message to journalists in the age of Trump, & the Democrats' daunting future - all the big highlights from this Monday edition of the Bill Press Show!

Agradece a este podcast tantas horas de entretenimiento y disfruta de episodios exclusivos como éste. ¡Apóyale en iVoox! Jesús Callejo, escritor, investigador y colaborador del programa La Rosa de los Vientos, nos cuenta la historia, de los Nommos, los dioses que vinieron de Sirio, hasta la Tierra, a “visitar” a un pueblo “elegido” para “instruirlos” y también para alimentarse de ellos. También nos cuenta su viaje a Tombuctú, la ciudad prohibida, en la Republica de Malí. Siempre que se habla de libros malditos, se habla del Necronomicon, (libro por otra parte inexistente), pero sin duda, uno de los libros “malditos”, por no decir el que más y que llevo a la muerte entre 40.000 y 100.000 personas, es el Malleus Maleficarum, también conocido como el Martillo de las Brujas. Este es el tema que os traemos hoy a la sección, Historias Insólitas. Las multinacionales farmacéuticas se gastaron en el año 2005, 19.000 millones de dólares en publicidad y promoción, más del doble de cinco años antes. Las compañías se gastan el doble en marketing que en investigación, esto es lo que afirma la asociación Families USA. Este es el tema que os traemos hoy la Mafia Sanitaria, en la sección Los Amos Secretos del Mundo, de nuestro colaborador Gabriel Wüldenmar. Antonio Peralta, continúa explicándonos en su sección, Clases de Astrología las particularidades de los signos zodiacales, en este caso el de Capricornio. Escucha este episodio completo y accede a todo el contenido exclusivo de La Rueda del Misterio. Descubre antes que nadie los nuevos episodios, y participa en la comunidad exclusiva de oyentes en https://go.ivoox.com/sq/4754

Guest: Ron Pollack, JD Host: Bruce Japsen As the health reform law breaks down hurdles to medical care coverage until it is fully implemented in 2014, the nation's children will be among the first benefactors during the first year of the law's implementation. Ron Pollack, founding executive director of Families USA, a Washington-based advocacy group for healthcare consumers, tells host Bruce Japsen about the law's benefits for children, such as health insurers' inability to deny coverage to children with pre-existing medical conditions that are important to providers.

Ron Pollack, Esq., the founding executive director of Families USA, answers questions following his presentation at "Assuring Equity through Health and Health Care Reform." The two-day conference was organized by Einstein to address health and health care disparities. (October 1-2, 2009)

Ron Pollack, Esq., the founding executive director of Families USA, presents, "The Future of Health Care Delivery in the US: Where Do We Stand?" Mr. Pollack delivered his talk at the two-day conference, "Assuring Equity through Health and Health Care Reform," which was organized by Einstein to address health and health care disparities. (October 1-2, 2009)

Ron Pollack of Families USA sorts out myths from reality in the current debate.

Guest: Ron Pollack, JD Host: Paul Raeburn Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, talks about how SCHIP could be expanded to insure more children, and what that would mean for physicians.