Podcasts about Health insurance

Vasanta Pundarika built her career inside healthcare investment banking before launching Lotuspring, an advisory firm focused on women's health and behavioral health. She spent nearly 20 years advising healthcare systems, treatment providers, and growth stage companies on mergers, financing, and operational strategy while watching the industry repeatedly misunderstand the people it claimed to serve.The conversation starts unexpectedly with anthropology, bread, and language. Vasanta explains how she spent years changing the pronunciation of her own name to make other people comfortable before eventually reclaiming it. That thread opens into a much larger discussion about adaptation, identity, and what institutions quietly train people to tolerate.From there, the discussion moves into behavioral health, women delaying care, and the invisible labor that healthcare business models routinely ignore. During COVID, Vasanta noticed men's behavioral health units refilled faster than women's units. The reason had nothing to do with demand. Women were still home managing caregiving responsibilities, children, aging parents, and households while their own mental health collapsed in the background.The episode examines what happens when healthcare companies become “snazzy big brands” before building real clinical substance underneath. Vasanta describes the tension between mission and margin inside healthcare startups, private equity backed care models, and behavioral health expansion. The conversation pushes on who benefits when healthcare scales aggressively, who absorbs the operational pressure, and how patient trust erodes long before executives notice it on a dashboard.They also discuss patient advocacy culture, anthropology as systems analysis, healthcare capitalism, prior authorization, investor language, and why some clinically excellent companies never survive long enough to scale.RELATED LINKSVasanta PundarikaLotuspringWomen's Health HorizonsSakhi for South Asian SurvivorsNACDPrinceton University Anthropology DepartmentFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today - remote work became essential during COVID, but could it be hurting your career now? While the benefits of working remotely are undeniable, new data shows that "out of sight, out of mind" is a dangerous reality in corporate America. Clark shares several things to consider if you want to protect your paycheck and position yourself for promotions. Also, a massive storm is brewing in the healthcare industry, and it is going to hit your wallet hard. The soaring cost of healthcare—driven heavily by hospital system monopolies in major metro areas—is pushing individual deductibles toward an estimated $15,000 and family deductibles past $30,000 by 2027. Clark explains everything you need to know - including another disadvantage in Advantage Plans.  Plus, Christa shares your #AskClark questions and Clark gives his take. All this and more on the July 20, 2026, episode of The Clark Howard Show. Submit your questions: Ask Clark. WFH Benefits & Risks: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 Health Insurance Update: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: Working remotely could make you more vulnerable to a layoff than AI Scam Alert: How To Avoid Home Title Theft - Clark Howard Home Title Lock: Is It the Same As Home Title Insurance? Property Fraud Alert Are Missing Money Websites Legit? - Clark Howard Raisin Review: Can You Trust This Online Savings Marketplace? 16 of the Best High-Yield Online Savings Accounts in July 2026 Is Plaid Safe? 5 Things to Know Before Linking Your Bank Account  Searching for health insurance? Keep scrolling to avoid government impersonators How To Freeze and Unfreeze Your Credit With Experian, Equifax and TransUnion What Is a Secured Credit Card and How Does It Work? - Clark Howard Best Secured Credit Cards for 2026: Top Picks for Building or Repairing Credit Clark.com resources: Episode transcripts Community.Clark.com  /  Ask Clark Clark.com daily money newsletter Consumer Action Center Free Helpline: 636-492-5275 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Planning for retirement can feel overwhelming, especially as you approach the transition from earning a paycheck to relying on your savings. The early phase of retirement brings unique challenges, and it's no surprise that there are plenty of misconceptions that can lead you astray. In this episode, we break down five of the most prevalent retirement myths, share insights from working with clients, and offer practical guidance to help you make confident, personalized decisions for your future.   1. "I'll Spend Less In Retirement Than When I Was Working"   This is one of the most widespread assumptions—and financial media often reinforces it by suggesting you'll only need 70-80% of your pre-retirement income. However, the reality is often quite different. In early retirement, spending typically increases as retirees suddenly have more time for activities, hobbies, and travel that were perhaps squeezed out during their working years. Parental obligations can linger, with adult children sometimes relying on financial assistance well into their late twenties or thirties. Unexpected repairs, long-postponed home improvements, or even a burst of "retirement honeymoon" spending are common. Recognizing these patterns, and planning for them, can help set more realistic expectations for your retirement budget.   2. "I Don't Have Time to Recover from a Market Downturn Anymore"   It's natural to become risk-averse as retirement nears; no one wants to see years of savings diminished by a bear market. Today's retirees are living longer than previous generations—often enjoying 25, 30, or even 35 years in retirement. This expanded timeline means you still have the potential (and perhaps the need) to ride out stock market fluctuations and recover from downturns. Avoiding growth assets altogether in favor of perceived "safety" may actually represent a different kind of risk: the erosion of purchasing power due to inflation.   3. "I'll Only Spend Interest and Never Touch My Principal"   This "live-off-the-interest" approach may have worked in an era of higher interest rates, but it's limiting in today's environment. We advocate for a total-return strategy: you draw from a mix of interest, dividends, and capital gains as appropriate. This helps maximize your spending potential and accounts for variable needs and market fluctuations. Clinging to the old mindset of never spending principal may feel safer, but it can artificially constrain your quality of life and generosity toward loved ones or causes you care about.    4. "I Shouldn't Retire Before 65 Because of Health Insurance"   Many people believe they must keep working until Medicare eligibility at 65 due to concerns about the high cost and complexity of health insurance. While the Affordable Care Act and COBRA have shifted the landscape, these options are often misunderstood or overlooked. Model retirement scenarios and run cost estimators to see if pre-65 retirement is out of reach or if it might be achievable—perhaps with an added planned expense for private insurance or by using available subsidies. Make decisions based on personalized numbers, not generalizations or fear. Sometimes, paying for private health insurance can be a worthwhile trade-off for earlier retirement and the memories made with family and friends.   5. "I Don't Need to Worry About Long-Term Care—I'll Just Stay in My Home"   It's tempting to imagine that aging in place solves long-term care needs, but the reality is that nearly 80% of retirees require some form of long-term care eventually. Whether it's in-home assistance or moving to a residential community, the costs are significant—often $80,000 per year or more, and potentially much higher for round-the-clock or specialized care. Failing to plan for these expenses may burden loved ones and potentially result in less-than-desired care options. Medicaid is not a reliable fallback for most financially secure retirees.   Outline of This Episode   01:53 Why early retirement often brings increased spending  05:26 Rethinking life expectancy reality 06:44 Discussing financial planning strategies 09:25 Misconception about living off interest 13:22 Financial plan modeling: test scenarios to see if earlier retirement is feasible 17:13 Importance of clarifying care intentions before a crisis arises     Resources & People Mentioned   7 Common Misconceptions about Retirement Planning | CCRRBC Inheritocracy by Eliza Filby About the Affordable Care Act | HHS.gov Medicare Finances: A Perspective on the 2026 Trustees Report       

This time on Code WACK! For many Americans getting the right medical care isn't just about what their doctors recommend, it's also about what their insurance company is willing to cover. So what happens when those two don't agree? And why can it be so difficult for patients to fight back? Attorney Lisa Kantor of Kantor & Kantor, LLP has spent more than two decades helping patients challenge health insurance denials. Her cases have ranged from eating disorders to life-threatening cancers, giving her a firsthand look at how insurers make coverage decisions and the consequences when they favor profits over patients. This is the second episode in a two-part series. Check out the Transcript and Show Notes for more! And please keep Code WACK! on the air with a tax-deductible donation at heal-ca.org/donate.  

Oran Rose shares how he moved from door-to-door pest control sales into life insurance, driven partly by losing his father young and seeing firsthand the impact of inadequate coverage. He later shifted into health insurance, where he helps entrepreneurs and self-employed families understand options beyond expensive COBRA or full-price marketplace plans. The big theme is that business owners often overpay because they do not know how income, subsidies, private plans, short-term plans, and marketplace coverage can be combined. Oran's advice: talk to a qualified agent before assuming health insurance has to be a massive monthly burden. * Oran's background in door-to-door sales gave him the persistence needed to succeed in insurance. * How to get health insurance for entrepreneurs * Examples of families saving $1,500–$2,600+ per month by restructuring coverage. * Health insurance is confusing, but the right agent can help business owners avoid overpaying.

Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans shares some ways to cut costs when it comes to medical bills. Also, Jon Bernthal discusses his role as the betrayed King of Sparta Menelaus in the highly anticipated film “The Odyssey”. Plus, sitting down with The Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore to celebrate his 40 years at the channel. And, board-certified psychiatrist and author Dr. Sue Varma shares the link between decision-making and happiness. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Brad Power spent years advising major corporations on systems design, process engineering, and decision making before lymphoma shoved him into the patient side of American healthcare. Instead of accepting the experience at face value, he started reverse engineering the machinery around cancer itself. Brad is the founder of Cancer Patient Lab and Open Cancer AI, two projects built around a blunt reality most patients discover too late: the healthcare system rewards people who know how to navigate it. Everyone else risks getting steamrolled by information asymmetry, insurance barriers, administrative friction, and institutional incentives designed around efficiency instead of human survival.The conversation starts with Harvard Business Review and Tumblr blogs before moving directly into the darker architecture underneath modern cancer care. Power explains how hospitals optimize for throughput, how insurance companies reward operational consistency over personalized medicine, and why many patients quietly end up needing a crash course in oncology, reimbursement policy, and behavioral psychology while fighting for their lives.The discussion digs into CAR-T therapy, functional testing, AI assisted decision support, and the growing collision between personalized medicine and standardized care pathways. Power argues that engaged patients often get better outcomes because they learn how to push for off guideline treatments, contest denials, and ask smarter questions. The counterpoint lands hard: patients should never have needed to become experts in the first place.The episode also explores the cultural consequences of AI entering cancer care. OpenAI advertising, data privacy, trust erosion, pharmaceutical influence, and “agentic AI” all collide inside a healthcare economy already drowning in distrust. Power sees artificial intelligence as a force multiplier for patient literacy and access. The larger system still decides who gets approved, who gets delayed, and who gets left behind.By the end, the conversation lands exactly where modern healthcare keeps forcing people to land: survival increasingly depends on learning how the machine works before the machine works on you.RELATED LINKSBrad PowerCancer Patient LabOpen Cancer AIHarvard Business ReviewResearch to the PeopleCAR T Cell TherapyFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Let's talk about Trump causing your health insurance to go up again….

By the time the paper hit version 71, Dr. Nirosha Murugan had already done the hard part. The data were real. The experiment had worked. A team of researchers had used a wearable bioreactor to trigger limb regeneration in frogs, a result with obvious implications for regenerative medicine. But the science still wasn't getting over the line. The problem wasn't the work. It was the translation.On this episode of Standard Deviation, host Oliver Bogler talks with Dr. Nirosha Murugan, a biophysicist and Tier II Canada Research Chair in Tissue Biophysics at Wilfrid Laurier University, about what happens when a scientist working at the edges of quantum biology, bioelectricity, and tissue regeneration runs headfirst into the unwritten rules of academic publishing. Murugan's research asks biologists to think beyond molecules and chemistry alone, and to consider the physical signals, electromagnetic fields, and invisible forces that shape development and healing. It is ambitious science. It is also exactly the kind of work that can make gatekeepers nervous.Bogler follows Murugan through the less glamorous part of discovery: the hidden curriculum of getting a paper published, securing scientific credibility, and learning that data do not simply “speak for themselves.” Murugan describes how jargon buried the pitch of her own work, how a lack of editorial support left her at a disadvantage, and how the JEDI program at the Life Science Editors Foundation paired her with a former journal editor who taught her how to structure a manuscript, write a cover letter, and survive peer review.The result was publication in Science Advances, but the larger story is about power. Who gets taught the rules of biomedical research. Who has access to grant writers, editors, and institutional polish. Who is left to brute-force their way through the maze. And how one scientist, having finally found the map, now makes sure her own trainees do not have to learn it the hard way.RELATED LINKSDr. Nirosha Murugan⁠Wilfrid Laurier University⁠Life Science Editors Foundation⁠JEDI Program⁠Science Advances paper on limb regeneration⁠FEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Kate Heilpern, president of Yale New Haven Hospital, to discuss the hospital's 200-year history, the financial pressures facing health systems, and how Yale New Haven is balancing innovation with its mission to serve the local community. Harlan examines the growing burden of U.S. healthcare costs; Howie highlights encouraging trends in infant mortality, life expectancy, overdose deaths, and cancer survival. Show notes: Healthcare Costs "National Health Expenditure Projections, 2025–34: Strong Utilization Growth Initially, Legislative Impacts Later" "KFF Health Tracking Poll: Health Care Costs, Expiring ACA Tax Credits, and the 2026 Midterms" "Americans See Health Care Costs, Deficit, Inflation as Big Problems Facing the Nation" "How Much and Why ACA Marketplace Premiums Are Going Up in 2027" "U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective, 2026" "The Cost of Health Insurance for a Family Jumps to $27,000" Zack Cooper "FDA approves Trutakna for IgA nephropathy" Kate Heilpern Yale New Haven Hospital: Vision, Mission, and Values Yale New Haven Hospital: History and Heritage "A Bicentennial Milestone: Yale New Haven Hospital Reflects on 200 Years of Care" Megan L. Ranney Azita Emami CDC: Social Determinants of Health Health & Veritas Episode 188: "Kate Heilpern: Jumping into the Deep End" American Hospital Association: "Costs of Caring" Adams Neurosciences Center Positive Trends in Mortality CDC: Infant Mortality Quarterly Provisional Estimates "Life Expectancy in U.S. Hit Record High of 79 Years in 2024, CDC Says" CDC: "Provisional Data: U.S. Death Rate Fell to a Record Low in 2025" CDC: Provisional Drug Overdose Data CDC: Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2024 "American Cancer Society Releases Latest Cancer Statistics" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Thank you so much for listening to the Bob Harden Show, celebrating nearly 15 years broadcasting on the internet. On Thursday's show, we visit with the Co-Founder and CEO of the Florida Citizens Alliance Keith Flaugh about a federal Appeals Court decision to overturn Florida's 2022 Stop Woke Act, and we discuss the candidate Forum on Saturday for Congressional District 22. Cato Institute Director of Health Policy Studies Michael Cannon and I discuss the reduction in enrollment in and the escalation of Obamacare premiums. CEI Senior Economist Ryan Young and I discuss inflation, employment, trade, and the Fed. We also visit with Substack columnist Patrick Carroll about rent controls and “rent strikes.” We have terrific a terrific guest for Friday's show, author and Professor Andrew Joppa. Access this and past shows at your convenience on my web site, social media platforms or podcast platforms.

Thank you so much for listening to the Bob Harden Show, celebrating nearly 15 years broadcasting on the internet. On Thursday's show, we visit with the Co-Founder and CEO of the Florida Citizens Alliance Keith Flaugh about a federal Appeals Court decision to overturn Florida's 2022 Stop Woke Act, and we discuss the candidate Forum … The post Obamacare and Escalating Health Insurance Premiums appeared first on Bob Harden Show.

Wednesday, July 8, 2026   Today, the Maine Democratic Party is weighing its options for selecting a new candidate should Graham Platner drop out; a Trump-appointed judge blocks the government from getting the names of 2020 Georgia election workers; new data shows that Obamacare enrollment has dropped dramatically over the past year; a new lawsuit shows the United States shared asylum application details with Iran; an Afghan national who fought with US forces has died in ICE custody; the family of a man shot by the Tennessee National Guard is demanding answers; Belgium beats and then trolls the US Men's National Team on Monday night; plus Allison and Dana deliver your Good News. The Daily Beans is proud to partner with Miles Taylor and our friends at DEFIANCE.org For a limited time, members of the Daily Beans community can receive a FREE 3-month full membership to DEFIANCE.org and gain access to one of the fastest-growing pro-democracy movements in America. Join here: https://www.defiance.org/beans   Thank You, IQBAR Text DAILYBEANS to 64000 to get 20% off all IQBAR products, plus FREE shipping. Message and data rates may apply.  Join The Daily Beans and give a gift today to ensure The Trevor Project can continue its crucial work in the face of continued challenges. Donate to The Trevor Project - Daily Beans Podcast Guest: Miles TaylorDefiance.org The Latest Breakdown:The Breakdown | Todd Blanche Could Be in Contempt Days Ahead of His Confirmation Hearing Stories Bernie Sanders Calls on Graham Platner to Drop Senate Bid After Rape Allegation | The New York Times Federal judge rejects Trump administration effort to get names of 2020 election workers in Fulton County Obamacare rolls shrank dramatically in many states over the past year, new federal data shows | AP News New lawsuit alleges U.S. shared asylum application details with Iran | NPR The family of a man shot by the Tennessee National Guard demands release of video | AP NewsGood TroubleContacting U.S. Senators | Senate.gov →Show up for our Libraries - action.ala.org →goodtroubleliveson.org/ July 17-19 →How to help those impacted by the Venezuela earthquakes|AP →Oppose House Amendment to Defund the Peace Corps! →Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance -  Open For Comments →Stand With Minnesota →ICE List  →iceout.org Good NewsThe Bloggess | Jenny Lawson Sistrum - Lansing, Sister Singers Network dana-goldbergs-southwest-funnyfest Oct 9 -Email Dana@DanaGoldberg.com for sponsorship information Tour - DANA GOLDBERGTickets for Dana Goldberg: Outrageous - Sep 23 - Den Theater - Chicago  →Share your Good News & Good Trouble - The Daily Beans   →Beans Talk audio -beans-talk.simplecast.com →Email Dana LGBTQ Owned eating establishments in your area - hello@mswmedia.com Subject: “Dana's Project” Subscribe to the MSW YouTube Channel - MSW Media - YouTube Our Donation Links The Trevor Project - trevorproject.org/beans Blue Wave California - https://secure.actblue.com/donate/msw-bwc Donate to Public Citizen - https://citizen.org/beans/ The Daily Beans is donating $10,000 and invites you to give what you can to support their life-affirming work - Donate to It Gets Better / The Daily Beans Fundraiser Pathways to Citizenship link to MATCH Allison's Donationhttps://crm.bloomerang.co/HostedDonation?ApiKey=pub_86ff5236-dd26-11ec-b5ee-066e3d38bc77&WidgetId=6388736 Join Dana and The Daily Beans in support of Human Rights Campaign http://onecau.se/_ekes71 More Donation LinksNational Security Counselors - Donate, ActBlue.com/donate/msw-bwc, WhistleblowerAid.org/beans Dr. Allison Gill - The Breakdown | Allison Gill, Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com - Bluesky, MSW & The Daily Beans Podcast @muellershewrote - Instagram, MSW Media - YouTube →Federal workers - email AG at fedoath@pm.me and let me know what you're going to do, or just vent. I'm always here to listen.  Dana Goldberg - Dana is on Patreon! At Dana's Dugout, @dgcomedy - Bluesky, @dgcomedy - IG, Dana Goldberg - Facebook,  DanaGoldberg.com More from MSW Media - Shows - MSW Media, Cleanup On Aisle 45 pod, The Breakdown | Allison Gill Reminder - you can see the pod pics if you become a Patron. The good news pics are at the bottom of the show notes of each Patreon episode! That's just one of the perks of subscribing! patreon.com/muellershewrote Listener Survey:http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=shortFollow the Podcast on Apple:https://apple.co/3XNx7ckWant to support the show and get it ad-free and early?https://patreon.com/thedailybeanshttps://dailybeans.supercast.com/https://apple.co/3UKzKt0 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dr. Jess Peatross trained in conventional medicine and worked as a hospitalist before she started questioning why so many chronically ill patients kept getting worse inside the healthcare system she trusted. Her perspective carries weight because she spent years following every protocol exactly as taught before walking away from hospital medicine entirely.Raised in Huntington, West Virginia during the opioid crisis, she entered medicine believing the system existed to heal people. Instead, she found hospitals driven by billing codes, liability management, and pharmaceutical dependence while patients with chronic illness, autoimmune disease, mold exposure, and chronic pain cycled endlessly through appointments and prescriptions.Dr. Peatross explains what pushed her toward functional medicine, cannabis therapy, and prevention focused care after watching patients improve only after leaving conventional treatment pipelines behind. The conversation tackles physician burnout, chronic illness stigma, healthcare incentives, and the growing collapse of trust between patients and institutions.The discussion also moves into supplements, environmental toxins, ultra processed food, and the uncomfortable economics behind keeping people permanently sick but continuously billable. Dr. Peatross describes the professional backlash that comes with challenging medical orthodoxy while Matthew connects her experience to the broader erosion of public trust across American healthcare.Together they unpack what happens when patients stop believing the system can help them and start searching elsewhere for answers.RELATED LINKSDr. Jess PeatrossInstagramMarshall UniversityBrave New WeedFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

New federal data first reported by The Associated Press show roughly 2.6 million fewer Americans were enrolled in Obamacare plans this February compared with a year earlier. While the Trump administration points to a crackdown on fraudulent signups, independent analysts say the expiration of enhanced federal subsidies and new eligibility restrictions also contributed to the decline. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed with the latest news from a leading Black-owned & controlled media company: https://aurn.com/newsletter Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Join Impact as a Member --> DianeKazer.com/IMPACT Join Impact as an Independent Business Owner --> DianeKazer.com/IMPACTTEAM Join Impact for Your Business --> DianeKazer.com/IMPACTBIZ Join Our Elite VIP Tribe --> DianeKazer.com/VIP All Yeptide Resources ->DianeKazer.com/YEPTIDES Apply to Become a 1-on-1 Patient --> DianeKazer.com/PATIENT Can we all agree on one thing? Our healthcare system isn't exactly... health care.

Are Your Benefits Training Top Talent to Leave?Healthcare costs continue to rise, and many employers feel trapped in a system that gets more expensive every year.In this episode of the People/AI Strategy Forum, Sam Reeve speaks with Chris Hamilton, Employee Benefits Practice Leader at Hotchkiss Insurance, about how organizations can rethink their benefits strategies to improve employee retention, create more value, and regain control over healthcare spending. Chris explains why traditional insurance models often create misaligned incentives and shares practical strategies that leading employers are using to design more effective and differentiated benefits programs.In This Episode:• Why healthcare costs keep rising • The hidden economics of health insurance • How benefits impact retention and recruitment • The advantages of customized and self-funded plans • Questions every employer should ask their broker • Strategies for creating more valuable employee benefits • How benefits can become a competitive advantageKey TakeawayBenefits should not simply be viewed as an expense.When designed strategically, they can become one of the most powerful tools organizations have to attract, retain, and support great people.Guest:Chris Hamilton Employee Benefits Practice Leader, Hotchkiss InsuranceLearn more: https://www.itschrishamilton.com/Learn more about CompTeam: https://compteam.net/Watch the full video episode: https://www.youtube.com/@PeopleStrategyForumPoweredByCompTeamIf you enjoyed this episode, follow the People/AI Strategy Forum on your preferred podcast platform and join the conversation! About the People/AI Strategy Forum The People/AI Strategy Forum explores how leaders navigate the intersection of people strategy, leadership, and artificial intelligence. Hosted by Sam Reeve, Founder & CEO of CompTeam, the Forum features conversations with executives, practitioners, and experts shaping the future of work.Learn more about CompTeam and the People/AI Strategy Forum at compteam.net.

Farla Efros is a senior retail executive and former CEO who built and sold companies before facing her own breast cancer diagnosis. She brings that same operational mindset into a healthcare system that expects patients to manage complexity while they are at their most vulnerable.She was on a client call in Spain when the diagnosis came through. A clear mammogram had missed it. An MRI caught it. Within hours, she was ordering binders, building a plan, and structuring her treatment like a turnaround strategy. Every appointment became a meeting. Every doctor faced an agenda with dozens of questions. She paid out of pocket for PET scans that were denied and hired a third party firm to validate her treatment path when her own doctors resisted outside input. The conversation tracks what happens when a high-functioning executive enters a system built on delay, denial, and fragmentation. Efros describes negotiating for tests, managing physician relationships, and assembling an “executive board” of advisors across conventional and alternative care. She calls the experience “the worst client I ever had,” exposing how administrative burden shifts onto patients and families.The tension sits between what worked for her and what is inaccessible to most. Her approach requires confidence, time, and fluency in navigating power. The system rewards that behavior while quietly failing patients who cannot replicate it. Insurance coverage still left her paying out of pocket. Doctors pushed standard protocols over precision medicine. Survivorship offered little support once treatment ended.This episode examines how cancer care operates as a series of incentives rather than a coordinated system, and why patients are forced to become operators just to get through it.RELATED LINKSFarla EfrosFarla Efros on LinkedInF*ck CancerF*ck Cancer on AmazonAccentureCTOAMPULL QUOTES“I treated cancer like the worst client I ever had.”“They wouldn't approve the test, so I paid for it myself.”“Every appointment was a negotiation.”FEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

6/30/26 Co-Host Amilcar Shabazz Lisa Wong, So Hadley Town Administrator: overrides, budget-busting health insurance costs, what towns and cities are saying to each other. Tara Jacobs, Governor's Councilor, on pardons, commutations, judicial confirmations & parole board nominees. Salman Hameed, professor and astronomer, on cotton-candy planets, signs of life, Project Hail Mary & airbags in space. Laurie Millman & Urszula Wolanska-Fettes, from the Center for New Americans, on becoming a citizen & the July 4th ceremony.

More than 8 million Americans have lost health insurance over the past year, according to new federal enrollment data and an analysis by Georgetown University. Democrats blame changes to last year's health care law, while Republicans say the reforms reduce government spending and strengthen Medicaid. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed with the latest news from a leading Black-owned & controlled media company: https://aurn.com/newsletter Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode of The Ty Brady Way, Ty sits down with Chris Hamilton, a former corporate finance professional turned health insurance consultant who walked away from a comfortable six-figure career to fight for something he actually believed in. Chris is the founder of a consulting practice that helps companies manage the rising cost of health insurance, protect their employees, and build better plans outside the traditional system. He's been doing it for ten years, and what started as one client has grown into one of the fastest-moving segments of the health insurance marketplace. Chris grew up as a multi-sport athlete in a small town outside of Southwest Houston, and he'll tell you that background shaped everything. Competition, adversity, getting knocked down and getting back up. Those aren't just sports lessons. They're the same things that carried him through a decade of building something that most people in his industry didn't think was worth the extra work. The story that really sets the tone for this conversation happened early in his career. He was thirty days into the job, had just renewed his first client, and his friends were congratulating him on already getting a raise because the premium went up and his commission went with it. Then a single mom of three walked up to him with tears in her eyes. One of her kids needed a procedure and she couldn't afford the deductible. Chris walked straight into the owner's office after that meeting and told him how he was getting paid. Then he changed it. That moment is where everything started. Ty and Chris get into the real mechanics of why health insurance is broken, why it functions more like an oligopoly than a competitive market, and why the people who created the problem are not the ones who are going to fix it. Chris uses a car insurance analogy that makes the whole thing click: imagine if your auto policy covered oil changes and tire rotations for a $25 copay. That's essentially what's happened with health insurance, and it's a big reason costs keep climbing. They also talk about what it actually takes to build a team worth having. Chris is clear that the best hire he's ever made didn't have the most impressive resume. What he looks for is someone who's a little fired up about how broken the system is. Someone who sees the smoke and wants to be part of putting out the fire. You can teach the technical stuff. You can't teach the want-to. Chris opens up about the sacrifice most people never see: taking an 80% pay cut, giving up the club membership and the perks, and betting on himself in a space where almost nobody was doing what he was trying to do. He's honest that it wasn't glamorous and that people who see him now assume it just happened. It didn't. Two people shaped who he became. His dad, an engineer and a man of his word, gave him his foundation. A C-level mentor he met in finance gave him the real business education that no MBA program ever did. He credits both of them with building the floor he's been standing on ever since. His advice for anyone trying to level up is straightforward: stay a student, surround yourself with people who are smarter than you, and find a peer group. Not just people inside your industry, but people outside it too. Sometimes the best answer to a problem comes from someone who has zero context and no assumptions about how things are supposed to work. The only legacy Chris cares about is what his kids think of him. That's it. Everything else is noise.  

Memes are apparently unavoidable, and most of them suck. Here we talk about some of the suckiest ones.00:00 Introduction and Disclaimer00:51 Japan's Food Tax and Why Groceries Shouldn't Be Taxed02:38 State Sales Taxes on Food Across America05:04 Flat Taxes, Tax Complexity, and Scotland's Simplicity06:18 Remembering Historian Gordon Wood07:37 AI Corporations and the Future of Legal Personhood13:30 Foolishness of the Week: Trump's Repeated Iran Peace Claims18:08 Responding to Socialist Memes19:04 Does Capitalism Create Billionaires Instead of Healthcare?22:11 Obamacare, Health Insurance, and Government Bureaucracy25:24 Why Misleading Memes Spread So Easily29:12 Is Poverty a Product of Capitalism?34:08 Elon Musk, Billionaires, and Wealth Creation42:20 Infinite Growth, Capitalism, and the Laws of Thermodynamics45:55 Why Political Memes Make Public Discourse Worse48:13 Patreon Updates and Closing Thoughts

While Elsevier's most recent Clinician of the Future Report shows increasing adoption of artificial intelligence tools among physicians and nurses, and optimism that they will improve quality of care in the future, a majority raised concerns about trust and reliability. To increase the level of trust, 60% said transparent citations of evidence-based and peer-reviewed research will be key. How to provide that transparency is our focus today as Raise the Line host Lindsey Smith welcomes Elsevier colleagues Rhett Alden and Raman Kaur to guide us through the complexities involved, including the concept of traceability and what role it plays in how AI tools such as Elsevier's ClinicalKey AI are built and deployed.  “Traceability changes the confidence that a clinician has in an AI tool so that they aren't trusting the AI, they're trusting the underlying evidence they're consuming from the AI-assisted platform,” says Raman, who brings years of experience as a primary care practitioner to her work.  It's also important, Rhett adds, to provide additional information, pulled from both the clinician's query and the patient's medical record, to inform clinical thinking. “ClinicalKey AI can be more than a response engine by establishing a larger context to provide a more precise answer for that individual patient.” In this thought-provoking discussion, these experts also provide insights on: Mitigating bias in AI results; Using AI responsibly with sustainability in mind; What type of clinician will benefit most from AI Mentioned in this episode: ClinicalKey AI Clinician of the Future Report If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Tricia McGusty, the new president of Mercy Hospital, discusses her transition from Houston to St. Louis, her background in hospital administration, and her goals for Mercy. She emphasizes the need to improve patient access and mentions ongoing renovations, including a new patient tower and emergency department expansion. Tricia highlights the importance of preventive care and affordable healthcare, noting Mercy's efforts to navigate insurance gaps and provide cost-effective services. Click here to schedule your appointment at Mercy Hospital.This episode is sponsored by Swap the Playroom. Clear out the clutter and get toys that keep things fresh and exciting by renting toys through Swap the Playroom!Tricia McGusty serves as president of Mercy's St. Louis communities, leading operations and strategy for Mercy's hospitals and clinics in the St. Louis area. She joined Mercy in 2026, bringing more than 25 years of health care experience, the last 15 of which were in leadership roles at large hospitals. Prior to Mercy, Tricia served in executive leadership roles with HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest, most recently as chief operating officer. Tricia McGusty earned her master's in business administration from the University of Houston Downtown and her bachelor's in biology and psychology from Houston Baptist University. While with HCA, she completed their executive development program. Learn more about Tricia and her new role at Mercy Hospital.We hope you enjoyed this podcast episode! To learn more about Moms of the Lou you can go to stlouismom.com or follow us on Instagram and Facebook. You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcast and Spotify. And don't forget to rate and review so more people can tune in! This episode was produced by St. Louis Mom. It was recorded and edited by STL Bucketlist Studios in St. Louis, Missouri. 

Today – Richland County leaders say the county’s finances are steady, but rising employee health insurance costs are forcing a harder look at the future.Support the show: https://richlandsource.com/membersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2020, Emily Mendenhall drove from Washington, DC to Okoboji, Iowa, a town of 800 that swells to 200,000 every summer, and walked into a pandemic that looked nothing like the one dominating national headlines. Inside gas stations and bars, masks marked you as an outsider. In one stop, a man told her family they would not be served if they kept theirs on. Her 6 year old daughter cried, confused. Mendenhall, a medical anthropologist at Georgetown University, did what she always does. She started asking questions. Over months, she interviewed neighbors, former classmates, and local officials, including her own brother in law who helped lead the local COVID response. The result became Unmasked, a case study in how community identity, economics, and politics shaped public health decisions in real time. That work led directly into her latest book, Invisible Illness: A History, from Hysteria to Long COVID, where she tracks a much older problem. Patients with chronic illness, especially women, often fail to meet medicine's demand for proof. Without a clear diagnosis, they lose access to care, insurance coverage, and legitimacy. Mendenhall argues that long COVID did not create this failure. It exposed it.This conversation centers on how healthcare systems reward certainty and punish complexity. Long COVID clinics send patients to 17 specialists without resolution. Insurance structures require diagnoses that many conditions cannot provide. Medical training still struggles to integrate trauma, mental health, and chronic disease into a coherent model of care.Mendenhall brings lived experience into the conversation. After COVID, she dealt with months of fatigue and escalating anxiety that altered her baseline health. She does not claim the label of long COVID, but she understands how quickly the system becomes harder to navigate once symptoms stop fitting clean categories. The stakes are not theoretical. In the United States, access to healthcare, disability benefits, and treatment still depends on whether a condition can be measured, coded, and reimbursed. For millions living with invisible illness, the burden of proof becomes the illness itself.RELATED LINKSEmily MendenhallInvisible Illness: A History, from Hysteria to Long COVIDScience PoliticsGeorgetown UniversityFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, Dorsey Morrow, CEO of Liberty HealthShare, discusses the growing affordability challenges facing healthcare consumers, the rise of alternative healthcare payment models, and the importance of transparency, trust, and prevention in improving access to care.This episode is sponsored by Liberty HealthShare.

Health Affairs Publishing's Rob Lott speaks to Adam Markovitz of the University of Michigan about his recent paper exploring the growing role of third-party firms in Medicare ACOs, highlighting how they have contributed to wider participation and more geographically dispersed networks while raising questions about how these structures relate to shared savings outcomes.Order the June 2026 issue of Health Affairs.Sign up for our free Health Affairs newsletters to stay up to date on health policy news and analysis.

It's been one year since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in an unprecedented move, dismissed all the members of its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), kicking off what would turn out to be a very concerning and busy year for infectious disease specialists.  We're going to recap this turbulent period – which includes a resurgence of measles, an unusually rough flu season, the emergence of a new COVID strain and outbreaks of hantavirus and Ebola – with Dr. William Schaffner, one of the country's most frequently quoted medical experts on infectious disease, vaccination, and public health. As a member of ACIP for decades, Dr. Schaffner brings unique insight into the dismantling of the committee and the distrust of vaccines that lies at the root of the changes. As he explains to Raise the Line host Lindsey Smith, while many vaccine critics are beyond reach, there are those he describes as vaccine hesitant that may be persuadable if the right approach is taken. “Beyond providing facts, we have to listen to them and respond to their concerns and make them feel comfortable. Information is fundamental, but behavior change only comes with a change in attitude.” Tune in for a wealth of wisdom and context that includes observations on: What's complicating containment of the Ebola outbreak; Challenges in public health communication in the current social media environment; What grade health authorities should get on their response to the hantavirus outbreak. Mentioned in this episode:Vanderbilt University School of Medicine If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

At 25, Jace Yawnick was building a career in health and wellness sales, chasing growth, status, and the usual young adult fantasy of getting somewhere fast. Then his body stopped cooperating. Fatigue turned into chemotherapy. The diagnosis was primary mediastinal B cell non Hodgkin lymphoma, and the rest of his life split into before and after. Now in remission, he talks about cancer the way people actually live it, not the way nonprofits package it. He gets into survivorship, mental health, young adult isolation, and the deadening absurdity of prior authorization. One of the sharpest parts of the conversation lands on a simple American insult disguised as policy: treatment innovation means very little when insurance can still deny the scan, the drug, or the next step. Jace has seen that firsthand, including during routine monitoring after active treatment. This episode tracks what happens when a young cancer patient becomes a public voice and refuses to play mascot. It covers oncology, insurance, remission, advocacy, and the long mental hangover that follows survival. It also names the part too many institutions dodge: the system works great right up until it doesn't, and when it fails, patients get handed the bill, the panic, and a camera if they want anyone to care. RELATED LINKSJace Beats CancerJace Yawnick on LinkedImConquer Cancer ArticleCURE Today ArticlePyure BrandsFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Health Insurance

Health Affairs Publishing's Rob Lott speaks to Geoffrey Hoffman of the University of Michigan about his recent paper exploring the structure of Medicare's hospital wage index and discusses the growth of exceptions over time, exploring their implications for how the system functions and whether it meets its intended policy objectives. Order the June 2026 issue of Health Affairs.Sign up for our free Health Affairs newsletters to stay up to date on health policy news and analysis.

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Thousands of residents in the Peach State have dropped out of health insurance coverage since the start of 2025, prompted in part by this year's expiration of enhanced federal subsidies that helped them pay their monthly premiums. For our special What's News series The Cost-of-Living Election, WSJ national politics reporter Sabrina Siddiqui speaks to Republican pollster Adam Geller and Democratic pollster John Anzalone. They discuss voters' expectations of Congress when it comes to healthcare costs, Democrats' trust advantage on healthcare, and whether that could swing the election to their party—including incumbent Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff—in November. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we are joined by Chris Hamilton, Partner and Employee Benefits Practice Leader at Hotchkiss Insurance, an independent insurance agency based in Texas. With nearly two decades of experience in corporate finance and employee benefits, Chris helps employers navigate the complexities of the healthcare system, reduce costs, and gain greater control over their health plans by moving beyond traditional insurance models. In addition to his work at Hotchkiss Insurance, Chris is the founder of Benefits Insider, an educational platform dedicated to helping employers understand how healthcare financing really works. Through practical case studies, industry analysis, and real-world examples, he empowers business leaders to make more informed decisions about employee benefits and healthcare spending. Recognized as the 2025 BenefitsPro Advisor of the Year, Chris has become a leading voice on healthcare transparency, employer-sponsored health plans, and cost-containment strategies. He regularly contributes to podcasts, conferences, and educational content designed to simplify one of the most misunderstood areas of business. This conversation explores: How Chris got started in the healthcare and employee benefits industry The unintended consequences of the Affordable Care Act on employers and healthcare  The incentives that drive insurance companies, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), and other healthcare stakeholders Alternative approaches to controlling healthcare costs  Why are healthcare costs continuing to rise, and what can employers do to take back control of their benefits strategy? Tune in to hear Chris's practical insights into the healthcare system and how businesses can create more efficient, cost-effective plans for their employees. Connect with Chris: Personal Website Hotchkiss Insurance LinkedIn Youtube Tiktok

Everyone loves the freedom of owning a pool service business until the scary questions show up: “What if I fail?” “What if I get sick?” “What about health insurance and retirement?” I walk through the most common negatives people bring up about the pool industry and give you the unfiltered reality, including the parts I can't sugarcoat.We start with the small business failure myth and why it's often less about the industry and more about basics like experience, customer service, and having an actual plan. From there, I challenge the idea that a W-2 job automatically equals security. Layoffs, automation, and AI have changed the game fast, and I explain why hands-on service work like pool cleaning, chemical balancing, and equipment problem-solving is far harder to replace than many “career” office roles.Then we get into the real hurdles: self-employed health insurance costs, what happens if you're injured, and how to think about retirement when you don't have a 401k match or pension. I share practical ways to reduce risk, including building a six-month emergency fund, using monthly service billing to create breathing room, and setting pool service pricing that covers the true cost of running your business. If you're thinking about starting a pool route or scaling your existing route, this is the mindset and strategy check that keeps you from overthinking and underpricing.If this helped, subscribe, share it with a pool pro friend, and leave a review so more service owners can find the show.We name the biggest negatives people say about the pool industry and separate real hurdles from fear-based noise. We also share practical ways to protect yourself with pricing, savings, and long-term planning so pool service stays stable and scalable.  • why the “8 out of 10 businesses fail” stat misses what actually causes failure  • how competence, planning, and customer service change the odds fast  • why “no safety net” applies to most jobs now, including white-collar roles  • why service businesses like pool service are harder to replace with AI  • building a six-month emergency fund to reduce stress and risk  • the real downside of self-employed health insurance and how to price for it  • what to do if you get sick or injured, including scheduling realities with monthly billing  • replacing a pension mindset with consistent investing and scalable income  Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.  Join the pool guy coaching program.  you can learn more at poolguycoaching.com.  Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA https://bit.ly/HASAThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching: https://bit.ly/40wFE6y

At 20 years old, newly arrived from Puerto Rico and trying to build a future in science, Benjamin Suarez Jimenez found himself sitting in front of two senior faculty members accused of plagiarism. He knew the material. He had done the work. His mistake came from failing to cite class notes during an exam because nobody had told him that was expected. In a matter of minutes, he watched what felt like his entire career flash before him.On this episode of Standard Deviation, host Oliver Bogler examines the hidden architecture of academic science through the experiences of Dr. Benjamin Suarez Jimenez, Assistant Professor at the University of Rochester and a neuroscientist studying PTSD, anxiety, trauma, and spatial cognition through virtual reality and video game environments.Benjamin traces his path from Puerto Rico to the mainland United States, through the NIH, Columbia University, and eventually to leading his own laboratory. Along the way, he encountered a series of barriers that had little to do with scientific ability and everything to do with access to unwritten rules. From academic gatekeeping to grant writing expectations, he learned that success in biomedical research often depends on knowledge that never appears in a textbook.Oliver explores how those invisible obstacles shape careers, influence research funding, and determine who gains access to opportunity. The conversation also examines the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Program at the Life Science Editors Foundation, which pairs scientists from underrepresented backgrounds with experienced scientific editors. Through that mentorship, Benjamin transformed a critical grant proposal into a successful pilot award that helped launch an NIH R01 application.The discussion extends beyond one scientist's experience. Benjamin describes helping a former mentee navigate dissertation roadblocks that threatened her graduation, illustrating how institutional bureaucracy can delay careers and discourage talented researchers. Together, they explore the hidden administrative burden, cultural barriers, and bias that many scientists carry alongside their research, and what happens when someone who receives support turns around and opens the door for others.RELATED LINKSLife Science Editors FoundationBenjamin Suarez Jimenez LabDr. Benjamin Suarez JimenezBenjamin Suarez JimenezFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"Do nothing for us without us." According to today's guest Robyn Bussey, that operating principle is the basis for effective community health work. "You don't go into a community and dictate. You go and listen and trust and be a partner," she adds. As you'll learn in this enlightening conversation, Bussey is following that approach in her current work as Just Health Director at the Partnership for Southern Equity, an Atlanta-based nonprofit advancing racial equity and shared prosperity across the South.  On this episode of Raise the Line from Elsevier, Bussey provides illuminating  examples of community-rooted work in South Fulton County and rural Georgia, and explains why community health workers may be the most underutilized asset in addressing health disparities. This wide-ranging interview with host Michael Carrese also explores: Bussey's candid perspective on what happened to the surge of interest in health equity that occurred during COVID; Why life expectancy gains in many Southern states have lagged behind the rest of the country; Her advice to students and early-career clinicians about where they're needed most.   Mentioned in this episode:  Partnership for Southern Equity If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Dr. Sarah Matt trained as a burn surgeon, working in a field where patients arrive with catastrophic injuries and survival depends on speed, skill, and resources. She left the bedside after confronting a limit that medicine does not like to admit. One physician can only see so many people in a day. The system surrounding those patients decides the rest. She moved into health technology, held leadership roles in startups, and built global infrastructure at Oracle to scale care across populations. Then she watched billions of dollars in digital health and AI initiatives stall out when they hit real clinical environments.This episode follows that pivot from surgeon to strategist and back into direct patient care in rural New York, where she now treats uninsured patients, migrant workers, and communities pushed to the margins. The conversation centers on a persistent failure across healthcare systems. Products get built for regulators, executives, and investors instead of the people who use them. The result shows up in failed adoption, broken workflows, prior authorization delays, and rising physician burnout.The discussion cuts through health policy language and lands on lived consequence. The system rewards speed over usability, scale over trust, and compliance over care. Patients absorb the fallout. Physicians carry the liability. The incentives remain intact.RELATED LINKSDr. Sarah MattThe Borderless Healthcare RevolutionThe Clinical RealistJessica FedererSovatoFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Health Affairs Publishing's Rob Lott speaks to Yashaswini Singh of Brown University about her recent paper that explores how private equity acquisitions in primary care are associated with changes in utilization, spending, and workforce composition.Order the June 2026 issue of Health Affairs.Sign up for our free Health Affairs newsletters to stay up to date on health policy news and analysis.

In the late 1980s, a child exposed to fallout from the Chernobyl disaster lay in a hospital bed while doctors told his family there were no clear answers and no reliable path forward. Decades later, that same child, Yan Leyfman, walks into exam rooms as a hematology oncology fellow, expected to deliver clarity inside a system that still runs on delay, uncertainty, and institutional self preservation.This episode traces the throughline from early life shaped by radiation exposure and hospice level uncertainty to a career inside academic medicine, translational research, and oncology media. Yan built his identity around survival and usefulness, moving from patient to physician while carrying the memory of what it feels like to sit on the other side of the table. He helped launch MedNews Week during the COVID crisis to push back on misinformation and expand access to medical knowledge, stepping into a public role while still in training.The conversation stays grounded in the friction between personal narrative and system reality. Clinical training demands efficiency, hierarchy, and emotional distance. Cancer care demands time, clarity, and human connection. Those forces collide in real patient encounters where prior authorization delays, insurance barriers, and fragmented care pathways shape outcomes as much as any treatment protocol.Yan speaks openly about mentorship, belonging, and the drive to make meaning out of survival. The discussion pushes further into what the healthcare system actually rewards, what it quietly strips away, and how quickly empathy can erode under institutional pressure. The episode also examines the role of medical media, where education, industry influence, and narrative control often blur together.This is a conversation about identity under construction, about what happens when someone who remembers powerlessness steps into a role that carries authority, and about whether that memory can survive long enough to change anything.RELATED LINKSYan Leyfman on LinkedInYan Leyfman on InstagramSurviving ChernobylFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Every year, millions of people's medical care runs into the roadblock known as prior authorization, which requires an insurer to sign off before chemotherapy, surgery or countless other services can proceed. Who does this often onerous process help, who does it hurt and how could it work better for everyone?Guests:Tom Roberts, Oncologist, Mass General Cancer CenterAaron Schwartz, Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy and Department of Medicine, University of PennsylvaniaKathleen, CaregiverLearn more on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Arlington National Cemetery has scrubbed from its website information and educational materials about the history of black and female service members. Also journalist Craig Unger joins the program to explain the difference between an asset and an agent. Do all roads lead to the inescapable and horrifying conclusion that Trump is a Russian asset?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.