Podcasts about Medical debt

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.

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.

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.

Matthew Zachary is a brain cancer survivor, healthcare advocate, founder of Stupid Cancer and We the Patients, and host of Out of Patients. In April 2026, he returned to the stage at Merkin Hall near Lincoln Center for his first solo public piano concert in almost 22 years while launching his debut book, We the Patients: Understanding, Navigating, and Surviving America's Healthcare Nightmare.What unfolded became far larger than a concert.Over 2 hours, survivors, clinicians, advocates, nonprofit founders, journalists, pharmaceutical sponsors, and healthcare insiders gathered in one room to reflect on 30 years of survivorship, institutional failure, accidental advocacy, and the emotional afterlife of cancer. The evening moved through original piano performances, live chapter readings, and deeply personal conversations about infertility, disability, financial toxicity, insurance denials, grief, burnout, and what happens when patients spend decades navigating systems designed around transactions instead of continuity.Guests including Wendell Potter, Maimah Karmo, Craig Lustig, Shelly Fuld Nasso, Tamika Felder, and others reflected on how the modern cancer advocacy movement emerged largely because patients built parallel systems where healthcare infrastructure failed to meet human needs. The conversation explored how prior authorization, reimbursement incentives, administrative fragmentation, and institutional distrust continue shaping the patient experience across oncology and survivorship.The performance also marked a deeply personal milestone. After brain cancer compromised his left hand at age 21, Zachary spent 6 months rehabilitating both hands to return to public performance for the first time in over 2 decades. The result became part concert, part civic gathering, and part historical record of a generation of survivors who refused to disappear quietly.RELATED LINKSMZLIVE Official WebsiteMZLIVE YouTube VideoFEEDBACKLike 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 December 1996, a 37 year old pharmaceutical executive sat in a Borders bookstore reading medical textbooks on the floor, trying to understand a disease she had never heard of. Multiple myeloma carried a three year prognosis. Her daughter was 18 months old. Her father had just died of cancer. Within weeks, she pushed her doctors to say the quiet part clearly. This would likely end her life before her child entered kindergarten.Kathy Giusti refused to accept passive survival. She built a plan while the system offered fragments. She interviewed oncologists and fertility specialists at the same time. She pursued IVF to have a second child while preparing for treatment. She stayed employed to keep insurance coverage. Every decision carried financial, medical, and emotional risk.That same urgency exposed a deeper failure. Cancer research moved slowly. Academic centers guarded data. Clinical trials lacked coordination. Patients entered a system that demanded compliance without providing clarity. Giusti responded by building the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, not as a support group, but as an operating engine to accelerate drug development, fund research, and force collaboration across institutions.This episode tracks the tension between individual agency and systemic failure. Giusti describes how patients navigate diagnosis, insurance barriers, and fragmented care in real time. She explains how data, genomics, and clinical trials reshape cancer treatment while still leaving patients responsible for decisions they are not trained to make. She addresses disparities in access, the limits of early detection, and the reality that progress in oncology often depends on speed, funding, and alignment of incentives.The conversation moves between lived experience and structural critique. It names the cost of delay, the burden placed on patients to act as their own advocate, and the tradeoffs required to push a system forward that still protects itself first.⸻RELATED LINKSKathy GiustiMultiple Myeloma Research FoundationFatal to FearlessAmerican Society of Hematology⸻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.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes Club Taylor 2k26 Volume 4 Closes Out the Series Party Favorz is back with the fourth and final volume of Club Taylor 2k26, featuring standout Taylor Swift remixes and dancefloor-ready reworks of her biggest hits and fan favorites. This latest entry in the Club Taylor Platinum Edition series pushes deeper into modern EDM, circuit, progressive, and house sounds while closing out one of the strongest remix collections we've assembled in years. Honestly, there's not much left to say about this series musically that wasn't already covered in the previous drop, so instead I'm going to update everyone on what's been happening behind the scenes lately. Goodbye Facebook and Instagram First up, the Party Favorz Facebook page is officially gone. Apparently, we're among the early casualties of Meta's decision to lay off thousands of workers and replace them with AI-driven moderation and customer service. Most of you already know I'm a strong supporter of AI. I use it regularly for writing, artwork concepts, SEO, and website development. However, there's a massive difference between using AI as a productivity tool and weaponizing it against your own users. I had a Meta Verified account, meaning Meta already confirmed I was exactly who I claimed to be. Despite the monthly fee, I never received most of the benefits they advertised. At $20 a month, it simply stopped making sense. After trying unsuccessfully to cancel the subscription directly through Meta, I finally shut it down through PayPal so they could no longer charge my debit card. That's when the retaliation started. Suddenly, I lost admin access to the Party Favorz page. What followed was nearly two weeks of going in circles with Meta's AI support system. It repeatedly told me the issue would be resolved within 24 to 48 hours, only for absolutely nothing to happen. Every time I returned, the case had mysteriously been marked “closed.” Starting a new support request only restarted the same endless loop of fake instructions, missing menu options, dead-end links, and canned responses. Eventually, I realized I no longer needed Facebook or Instagram at all. The biggest advantage those platforms offered was keeping up with DJs posting new remix drops on SoundCloud. Since I already follow all of them directly on SoundCloud anyway, Meta really became nothing more than unnecessary middleman clutter. Subscribe By Email Instead Going forward, the best way to stay updated on new Party Favorz episodes is to subscribe by email using the link in this post or in the sidebar. You won't get spammed. You'll only receive an email whenever a new episode drops. That's it. No algorithms. No shadow bans. No corporate nonsense deciding whether you get to see my content. Medical Debt, Politics, and a Broken System Most of you already know I've been dealing with some pretty brutal medical issues over the past several months. Thankfully, the wounds on my leg have finally started healing, albeit slowly. Still, the financial aftermath has been devastating. I'm currently drowning in medical debt and doing everything possible to negotiate those bills down to realistic numbers. At this point, it's basically “take it or leave it” because there's only so much blood you can squeeze from a stone. That's why it infuriates me watching this administration throw money around like monopoly cash. While average Americans struggle to pay rent, groceries, insurance, and medical bills, Trump reportedly pressured the Department of Justice into creating what amounts to a $1.8 billion slush fund for some of the most undeserving people imaginable — individuals who assaulted Capitol Police officers with flag poles, chemical spray, fists, stun guns, and fire extinguishers, smeared feces throughout the Capitol, trashed congressional offices causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages, hunted lawmakers through the halls of Congress, and openly erected gallows while chanting they wanted to hang Vice President Mike Pence because he refused to overturn the election. Many pleaded guilty. Others were convicted by juries of their peers after mountains of video evidence left little room for debate. Yet somehow, these people are now being portrayed as victims deserving taxpayer-funded restitution while working Americans drown under medical debt, rising grocery bills, and stagnant wages. At the same time, Trump continues pushing vanity projects most Americans never asked for, including demands that taxpayers fund his proposed White House ballroom after initially claiming donors would cover the cost. Reports surrounding financial protections tied to his broader political agreements have only fueled concerns that he and members of his family are effectively shielding themselves from future IRS scrutiny indefinitely while continuing to profit from political influence, overseas ventures, licensing deals, cryptocurrency schemes, donor-funded properties, endless merchandise grifts, and every imaginable opportunity to monetize political power. Meanwhile, regular Americans are told to tighten their belts. Well, some of us damn sure care. Gas prices here in Georgia continue creeping upward, hovering around $4 a gallon. Grocery costs for two people in our household have exploded from roughly $300 a month during the Biden years to anywhere between $500 and $700 now. Add crushing medical debt on top of that, and watching Trump and his orbit monetize political power at every opportunity becomes even harder to stomach. Still, despite all of this financial burden, Rick and I will somehow find a way to muddle through because that's what ordinary people do. We adapt. We sacrifice. We survive. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the wealthy political class currently fleecing the country while pretending they alone can save it. The Party Favorz Website Overhaul Is Complete On a more positive note, the Party Favorz website overhaul is finally finished. The site should still feel familiar, but the biggest goal was making older episodes easier to discover for newer visitors. Over the years, the Club Taylor series, Funky House Sessions, Peak Hour, Circuit & Anthems, and countless legacy sets have grown so large that too much content was getting buried beneath newer releases. Now, older episodes are featured more prominently so listeners can better understand the full scope of what Party Favorz offers across multiple genres and generations of dance music. There are only so many ways to redesign a site like this without losing its identity, but I think I finally landed on something that works. Summer Leap 2026 Is Up Next I know many of you are already waiting for Summer Leap 2026. The good news is that the tracks have already been selected and the set is well underway. My hope is to have it ready sometime next week. After that, we'll officially move into the annual Gay Pride sets, which are always among the biggest releases of the year around here. Between Club Taylor 2k26, the website overhaul, and everything happening behind the scenes personally, it feels good to finally say that things are slowly getting back on track. Until the next time...ENJOY! Album: Club Taylor 2k26 Platinum Edition Volume 4Genre: House, EDM, Dubstep, NuDisco, Progressive HouseYear: 2026Total Time: 01:28:56 Red (South House Remix) You Need To Calm Down (Andrew Marks Now Or Never Edit) Opalite (Beto Luna Extended Remix) Cruel Summer (Ray Rhodes Remix) Fortnight (BLONDISH Remix Extended) [with Post Malone] I Knew You Were Trouble (Cosmic Dawn Club Mix) You Belong With Me (James Lucas & Max Major Remix) Wildest Dreams (R3hab Remix Extended) Karma (GR1NDU Future Rave Remix) Cardigan (Alex Simmons Remix) Blank Space (Ray Rhodes Remix) August (Sanjay Remix) New Romantics (DJ PRESS PLAY Remix) The Fate Of Ophelia (Loud Luxury Extended Remix) I Can Do It With A Broken Heart (Dombresky Remix Intro - Dirty) Style (Jroll Remix) Lover (Tempo Remix) I Can See You (Martial Simon Remix) Anti-Hero (Roosevelt Remix Intro) Lavender Haze (Snakehips Extended Remix - Explicit) Wood (Martial Simon Remix) Delicate (Seeb Remix) Sweet Nothing (Chuksie Remix)

At 19, Shlomit woke up unable to speak. The right side of her body went numb. An emergency room sent her home and called it stress. That moment did not end in a diagnosis that changed policy or triggered reform. It sent her into a decade long pursuit of understanding how the brain fails language and how the healthcare system fails patients who cannot advocate for themselves.Shlomit trained as a speech language pathologist and spent years inside acute care hospitals and ICUs, performing endoscopies and treating patients with brain injury, stroke, and dysphagia. She watched medical teams rotate in and out, deliver dense updates, and leave families nodding without comprehension. She stayed behind and translated. Every day, patients told her she was the only one who explained what was happening. That gap is not an accident. Hospital systems optimize for throughput, not understanding. Patients move through beds based on cost, not readiness. Discharge planning becomes a financial decision wrapped in clinical language. A stay under 48 hours can shift the insurance burden dramatically, leaving patients exposed to higher out of pocket costs. Shlomit left the system and built Patient Path NYC, a private patient advocacy service. She now spends 15 to 20 hours a week per client reading charts, coordinating care teams, and translating medical decisions into plain language. Her work sits in the uncomfortable space between healthcare policy and lived experience. Families pay out of pocket to understand their own care. Hospitals benefit from the clarity she provides while maintaining the same structural incentives that created the confusion.This conversation tracks the human cost of fragmented care, the economics behind discharge decisions, and the quiet reality that patients who cannot communicate clearly often lose control of their own outcomes.RELATED LINKSShlomit LibertyShlomit Liberty on LinkedInPatient Path NYCBoard Certified Patient AdvocateFEEDBACKLike 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.

Why are Americans going broke trying to stay healthy? The real question is why is healthcare in America so expensive in the first place — and who profits from it?On this episode of the Lean to the Left podcast, Bob Gatty talks with Dr. Adam Cunningham, founder of Sylk Health, about the hidden costs of healthcare, the medical debt crisis, and why millions of Americans are struggling to afford treatment.They discuss:• Why hospital pricing is intentionally hidden• How medical debt drives bankruptcy in America• Why healthcare has become a social justice issue• The shocking cost differences between U.S. and overseas treatment• Medical tourism and affordable care abroad• Insurance companies, hospital lobbying, and pharmaceutical profits• Medicare, supplemental insurance, and rising costs for seniors• Alzheimer's care and the crushing financial burden on families• Why meaningful healthcare reform remains so difficultDr. Cunningham explains how Sylk Health compares medical procedure costs between the U.S. and accredited hospitals in China, giving patients new options when facing massive medical bills.This conversation goes beyond politics and gets to the heart of a broken healthcare system that leaves working families drowning in debt while corporations profit.

In 2020, developmental biologist Dr. Crystal Rogers drove the country roads outside Davis, California crying between grant rejections, wondering whether she was about to lose her lab, her career, and the scientific future she had spent years building. She had already done what academia tells young scientists to do. She earned the credentials. She landed a faculty position at UC Davis. She built a lab. Then the real test began.On this episode of Standard Deviation, Dr. Oliver Bogler examines the unspoken rules that determine which scientists survive academic research and which quietly disappear from it. The conversation follows Crystal Rogers and cancer biologist Dr. Michelle Mendoza as they collide with the “Hidden Curriculum” of biomedical science: the unwritten rhetoric, institutional signaling, and grant writing strategies that often decide who receives funding, tenure, and long term stability.Michelle Mendoza entered a tenure track position at the Huntsman Cancer Institute while raising 3 children, navigating a divorce, and trying to secure major NIH funding during COVID. What looked like objective scientific review turned out to depend heavily on persuasion, presentation, and insider fluency. Established researchers could promise massive research agendas based on reputation alone. Junior investigators faced a completely different standard.Oliver traces how the Life Science Editors Foundation and its JEDI program intervened by pairing scientists with former editors from journals including Cell and Nature. The work had little to do with commas or grammar. Editors challenged logic, structure, and scientific framing before grant reviewers could destroy an application in public.Both researchers eventually secured career defining grants. One realized she would keep her job and not have to move her family. The other celebrated by ordering a personalized “DEV BIO” license plate and driving through Davis blasting nineties hip hop and Beyoncé.The episode exposes how biomedical research funding rewards institutional fluency as much as scientific talent, and how hidden systems inside academic medicine continue shaping who gets to stay in science long enough to make discoveries.RELATED LINKSDr. Crystal Rogers LinkedInDr. Crystal Rogers Faculty PageDr. Crystal Rogers LabDr. Michelle Mendoza LinkedInDr. Michelle Mendoza Faculty PageHuntsman Cancer Institute Mendoza LabLife Science Editors FoundationFEEDBACKLike 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 of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis talks with Dan Smith, president and CEO of the Consumer Data Industry Association, about current challenges and changes in the U.S. consumer reporting system. They discuss how reliable credit information supports fair lending decisions and helps lenders understand a borrower's ability to repay. The conversation touches on rising FCRA litigation, new state efforts affecting what can appear on credit reports — especially medical debt — and the growing issue of “credit washing,” where large volumes of questionable disputes can hide accurate information and slow resolution of real errors. The episode also highlights the importance of working with regulators and policymakers to preserve a nationwide credit reporting system that is complete, accurate, and consistent in supporting responsible lending and access to credit. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In 2008, Katy Talento walked away from Capitol Hill and into a Catholic convent. Within a year, she walked out. Within another decade, she sat inside the White House shaping health policy. Somewhere in between, she got labeled “infertile” after a single cycle of testing and spent years believing it.That label stuck. The pain that came before it never got investigated. Doctors offered birth control and moved on. No one asked why her body was struggling. No one followed the thread.Talento built her career inside the very systems she now critiques. She worked on federal health policy, global disease programs, and later advised the Trump administration on healthcare reform. She helped advance price transparency rules in a system where hospitals can still list 457 different prices for the same service.Then she left.Now she builds employer health plans that bypass insurers, PBMs, and traditional networks. Her approach replaces insurance contracts with direct payment, nurse navigators, and cost sharing models that promise simplicity but raise hard questions about risk and protection.This conversation sits in that tension.Talento describes a healthcare system shaped by layered incentives, where insurers, hospitals, and intermediaries profit from complexity. She argues that employers hold the leverage to disrupt it. The host pushes on what happens when patients fall outside those structures, when contracts disappear, and when community based models fail.The episode moves through infertility, misdiagnosis, insurance design, and the mechanics of employer sponsored care. It tracks how policy decisions made in Washington ripple into exam rooms, billing departments, and family lives.It also confronts a harder truth.Even insiders who understand the system can still get caught in it.RELATED LINKSAllBetter HealthKaty TalentoThem Before UsAn Arm and a LegRelentless Health ValueFEEDBACKLike 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.

Lindsay Jurist-Rosner, Co-Founder and CEO of Wellthy, and Stephan Dolling, AVP of Global Benefits & Well-being at Merck, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about the rising pressures facing working families and what companies can do to support their employees that are caregivers.----  Sponsor Links:

In a wooded campground cabin in the early 2000s, 19 year old Ben Unger stood in the doorway and watched 20 naked men form a circle around a crying teenager. A counselor held up two tangerines and shouted, “These are your balls.” The exercise claimed to cure same sex attraction by forcing young men to “reclaim” their masculinity from overbearing mothers. Phones had been confiscated. Parents had paid thousands of dollars. Religion supplied the script. Pseudoscience supplied the props.Ben had grown up in an Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn and later studied in Israel to become a rabbi. When he admitted he felt attracted to men, rabbis told him to eat 7 figs a day, immerse in a ritual bath 5 times daily, or marry a woman and trust that “if there's friction, it works.” At 19, he entered conversion therapy through an organization called Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality, known as JONAH. He left with depression, religious trauma, and 6 months of silence toward the mother he had been taught to blame.Years later, represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Ben helped sue JONAH for consumer fraud in a landmark New Jersey case. The argument centered on evidence, not theology. Sexual orientation cannot be changed. The jury deliberated for 3 hours and ruled against the organization. The verdict helped reshape how states regulate conversion therapy and protect minors from psychological harm disguised as treatment.Today, Ben runs Buff Personal Training in New York City, a gym built on autonomy, mental health, and self respect. His story traces the arc from institutional control to self authorship. The conversation examines religion, LGBTQ rights, conversion therapy, consumer protection law, and the lasting cost of being told your identity is a disorder.RELATED LINKSBen Unger on LinkedInBen Unger on InstagramBUF Personal TrainingSouthern Poverty Law CenterJONAHFEEDBACKLike 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.

The Mesa Chamber Healthcare Committee proudly presents a series of informative podcasts advocating for the importance and support of mental health, in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month. This episode welcomes Jeff Bayer of Bayer Media Group and Karen Rosner of KMR Medical Debt Solutions for a unique and educational discussion.  Learn more about Bayer Media Group: http://bayermediagroup.com Learn more about KMR Medical Debt Solutions: https://youredebtfreequickly.com/ Mesa Chamber Healthcare Committee: https://www.mesachamber.org/healthcare-committee/ The Mesa Chamber of Commerce Inside Business Podcast is a production of the Mesa Chamber of Commerce. Inquiries regarding the MCIBP can be made via email to info@mesachamber.org. The Podcast interviews members and individuals/organizations on topics of interest to Mesa Chamber members. Learn more at mesachamber.org. ©2026 Mesa Chamber of Commerce

In this episode, we hear how medical debt has affected the well-being of a single mom. A financial therapist provides recommendations for anyone struggling with medical debt.

In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis is joined by Troutman Pepper Locke Partners Stefanie Jackman and Brent Hoard to take a close look at the world of medical debt collection. The discussion covers how HIPAA applies to medical debt, what it really means to be a "business associate," and common privacy challenges that can turn routine collection efforts into regulatory headaches. They also focus on key federal and state debt collection regimes, including the FDCPA, the No Surprises Act, and increasingly complex credit reporting requirements. The group provides insight on collection strategies for health care providers and third-party collectors that are both compliant and workable in practice. For anyone handling medical-related receivables, this episode serves as a practical guide to safeguarding patient information, maintaining tax-exempt status, and enhancing collections while staying within regulatory boundaries. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Drew Flugstad-Clarke never planned to work in brain cancer. She planned to play Division I soccer at Georgetown. She planned to paint. She even tried investment banking, answering emails at 4am in a cubicle that never slept. Then in June 2022 her father, Jim, was diagnosed with glioblastoma at 57. He died 1 day shy of 7 months later, just before his 58th birthday. His symptoms began with emotion, not seizures. A steady HR executive suddenly cried. His golf game slipped. By the time he entered the hospital for a scan, he did not leave without surgery. A subway poster for a 5K became a lifeline. Drew showed up. She found a community. She later joined the American Brain Tumor Association as Community Manager for the Eastern Region. This conversation walks through anticipatory grief, caregiving in real time, strategic numbness, and what it costs to curate hope when the median survival clock is already ticking.RELATED LINKSDrew Clark Flukestad on LinkedInTopor StudiosAmerican Brain Tumor AssociationGeorgetown University Women's SoccerFEEDBACKLike 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.

Janine Durso spent 30 years inside pharmaceutical advertising shaping healthcare narratives before becoming a belief strategist and founder of The Believist. In November 2024, during a routine Zoom coaching session, she felt what she called a sharp, terrible pain in the right side of her head. Within hours she was in surgery for a ruptured brain aneurysm. She does not remember the ambulance, the ICU, or the first weeks that followed. She spent 5 weeks in intensive care, then 10 days relearning how to walk, calculate simple change, and manage basic cognition. Doctors later placed a stent and continue monitoring a second unruptured aneurysm.This episode traces the moment she told her husband something broke in my brain, the 14 days doctors called touch and go, and the slow mental rebuild that followed. It also examines insurance barriers that require 2 direct relatives with aneurysms before screening coverage, and why she now lobbies in Washington for change.RELATED LINKSJanine DursoThe BelievistBrain Aneurysm FoundationWhite Plains HospitalDr. Jared CooperFEEDBACKLike 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.

──────────────────────────────────────── [00:02:09] Week 7: 50,000 Troops in Iran — 10,200 More Deploying; Chinese Sanctioned Tanker Got Through the Blockade Trump is sending another 10,200 troops. A Chinese sanctioned tanker passed through the blockade unopposed. Knight: China told the US not to stop their ships — and Trump blinked. One more incident means World War Three. ──────────────────────────────────────── [00:10:32] Europe Has Six Weeks of Jet Fuel Left — Airlines Merging, Adding Fees, Cutting Routes Airlines going upscale: fewer seats, higher prices. United and American discussing a merger. Delta's CEO: high fuel prices have always been the most powerful catalyst for eliminating weaker carriers. ──────────────────────────────────────── [00:24:08] Illinois AI Liability Bill: Immunity for Mass Death — Only If the AI Cost Over $100 Million to Build An Illinois bill backed by OpenAI would shield AI developers from liability for mass death, WMD deployment, and autonomous criminal conduct — if compute costs exceeded $100 million. Knight: pharmaceutical immunity model applied to killer robots. ──────────────────────────────────────── [00:36:52] The Real Goal of AI Is to Eliminate Wages — Workers Left Behind Spend Their Days Cleaning Up AI Slop Companies deploying AI find remaining employees spend most of their time correcting subtle errors. Knight: cognitive dependence on AI shrinks the brain the same way GPS shrank London taxi drivers' spatial memory — measurably and fast. ──────────────────────────────────────── [00:45:19] Biblical Worldview Fell From 6% to 4% in 18 Months of COVID Lockdowns — Has Stayed There Since Researcher Adam Rasmussen: church shutdowns drove a 33% collapse in biblical worldview in 18 months. It has stayed at 4% since. Emerging followers dropped from 19% to 10% in the same period. ──────────────────────────────────────── [00:57:36] Only 1 in 25 American Adults Is an "Integrated Disciple" — Children Under 17 Have a 1 in 100 Chance Rasmussen: integrated disciples are 4% of adults. Emerging followers are 10%. The remaining 85% are "world citizens" from a syncretistic worldview. Children under 17 have a 1 in 100 or lower chance. ──────────────────────────────────────── [01:06:47] Inverse Correlation: More Biblical Worldview Means Less Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Ideation Rasmussen's 2024 study found a moderate to strong inverse correlation between biblical worldview and anxiety, depression, fear, and suicidal ideation. The younger the cohort, the less biblical worldview — and the higher the mental health burden. ──────────────────────────────────────── [01:26:40] FBI Agent Wayne Barnes: Robert Hanson Was Perhaps the Most Damaging Spy in US Intelligence History Hanson voluntarily sought out the KGB and sold secrets for 22 years before being caught in 2001. He died in Supermax solitary in 2023. His first words to the SWAT team: "What took you so long?" Barnes spent seven years getting FBI pre-publication clearance. ──────────────────────────────────────── [01:36:29] How Barnes Identified Hanson: A KGB Defector Brought Internal FBI Memos — Only One Source Was Possible A 1990s KGB defector brought internal FBI memos as proof of penetration. FBI memos don't circulate outside the bureau — the mole had to be inside. Barnes used Venn diagram overlap of who saw each memo to narrow to one name. ──────────────────────────────────────── [01:43:27] Barnes: Spies Are Almost Always Made by a Crisis — Sick Child, Medical Debt, Marriage Falling Apart Barnes' core insight: ideology rarely starts it. A crisis — a child needing surgery, financial collapse — is almost always the trigger. Once someone sells the first secret, they are on the hook permanently. ──────────────────────────────────────── [01:51:16] Senate Voted 40-59 to Continue Arming Israel — Same Day Netanyahu Said Vance Reports to Him Daily The motion to cut Israel arms funding failed 40 to 59, the same day Netanyahu publicly stated JD Vance calls him from his plane to "report in detail, as the people of this administration do every day." ──────────────────────────────────────── [01:54:55] Pentagon Ramping Up Cuba Military Planning — Trump: "I Can Do Anything I Want With It" Pentagon Cuba planning began in January with oil shipment curbs. Trump publicly said he could "take Cuba in some form" and added, "I think I can do anything I want to with it." ──────────────────────────────────────── Money should have intrinsic value AND transactional privacy: Go to https://davidknight.gold/ for great deals on physical gold/silver For 10% off Gerald Celente's prescient Trends Journal, go to https://trendsjournal.com/ and enter the code “KNIGHT” For high quality made in America products go to HomeSteadProducts.shop and use promo code “Knight” for 10% off your purchases Find out more about the show and where you can watch it at TheDavidKnightShow.com If you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-showOr you can send a donation throughMail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Zelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at: $davidknightshowBTC to: bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-david-knight-show--2653468/support.

──────────────────────────────────────── [00:02:09] Week 7: 50,000 Troops in Iran — 10,200 More Deploying; Chinese Sanctioned Tanker Got Through the Blockade Trump is sending another 10,200 troops. A Chinese sanctioned tanker passed through the blockade unopposed. Knight: China told the US not to stop their ships — and Trump blinked. One more incident means World War Three. ──────────────────────────────────────── [00:10:32] Europe Has Six Weeks of Jet Fuel Left — Airlines Merging, Adding Fees, Cutting Routes Airlines going upscale: fewer seats, higher prices. United and American discussing a merger. Delta's CEO: high fuel prices have always been the most powerful catalyst for eliminating weaker carriers. ──────────────────────────────────────── [00:24:08] Illinois AI Liability Bill: Immunity for Mass Death — Only If the AI Cost Over $100 Million to Build An Illinois bill backed by OpenAI would shield AI developers from liability for mass death, WMD deployment, and autonomous criminal conduct — if compute costs exceeded $100 million. Knight: pharmaceutical immunity model applied to killer robots. ──────────────────────────────────────── [00:36:52] The Real Goal of AI Is to Eliminate Wages — Workers Left Behind Spend Their Days Cleaning Up AI Slop Companies deploying AI find remaining employees spend most of their time correcting subtle errors. Knight: cognitive dependence on AI shrinks the brain the same way GPS shrank London taxi drivers' spatial memory — measurably and fast. ──────────────────────────────────────── [00:45:19] Biblical Worldview Fell From 6% to 4% in 18 Months of COVID Lockdowns — Has Stayed There Since Researcher Adam Rasmussen: church shutdowns drove a 33% collapse in biblical worldview in 18 months. It has stayed at 4% since. Emerging followers dropped from 19% to 10% in the same period. ──────────────────────────────────────── [00:57:36] Only 1 in 25 American Adults Is an "Integrated Disciple" — Children Under 17 Have a 1 in 100 Chance Rasmussen: integrated disciples are 4% of adults. Emerging followers are 10%. The remaining 85% are "world citizens" from a syncretistic worldview. Children under 17 have a 1 in 100 or lower chance. ──────────────────────────────────────── [01:06:47] Inverse Correlation: More Biblical Worldview Means Less Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Ideation Rasmussen's 2024 study found a moderate to strong inverse correlation between biblical worldview and anxiety, depression, fear, and suicidal ideation. The younger the cohort, the less biblical worldview — and the higher the mental health burden. ──────────────────────────────────────── [01:26:40] FBI Agent Wayne Barnes: Robert Hanson Was Perhaps the Most Damaging Spy in US Intelligence History Hanson voluntarily sought out the KGB and sold secrets for 22 years before being caught in 2001. He died in Supermax solitary in 2023. His first words to the SWAT team: "What took you so long?" Barnes spent seven years getting FBI pre-publication clearance. ──────────────────────────────────────── [01:36:29] How Barnes Identified Hanson: A KGB Defector Brought Internal FBI Memos — Only One Source Was Possible A 1990s KGB defector brought internal FBI memos as proof of penetration. FBI memos don't circulate outside the bureau — the mole had to be inside. Barnes used Venn diagram overlap of who saw each memo to narrow to one name. ──────────────────────────────────────── [01:43:27] Barnes: Spies Are Almost Always Made by a Crisis — Sick Child, Medical Debt, Marriage Falling Apart Barnes' core insight: ideology rarely starts it. A crisis — a child needing surgery, financial collapse — is almost always the trigger. Once someone sells the first secret, they are on the hook permanently. ──────────────────────────────────────── [01:51:16] Senate Voted 40-59 to Continue Arming Israel — Same Day Netanyahu Said Vance Reports to Him Daily The motion to cut Israel arms funding failed 40 to 59, the same day Netanyahu publicly stated JD Vance calls him from his plane to "report in detail, as the people of this administration do every day." ──────────────────────────────────────── [01:54:55] Pentagon Ramping Up Cuba Military Planning — Trump: "I Can Do Anything I Want With It" Pentagon Cuba planning began in January with oil shipment curbs. Trump publicly said he could "take Cuba in some form" and added, "I think I can do anything I want to with it." ──────────────────────────────────────── Money should have intrinsic value AND transactional privacy: Go to https://davidknight.gold/ for great deals on physical gold/silver For 10% off Gerald Celente's prescient Trends Journal, go to https://trendsjournal.com/ and enter the code “KNIGHT”For high quality made in America products go to HomeSteadProducts.shop and use promo code “Knight” for 10% off your purchasesFind out more about the show and where you can watch it at TheDavidKnightShow.com If you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-showOr you can send a donation throughMail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Zelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at: $davidknightshowBTC to: bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-david-knight-show--5282736/support.

In this joint episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, guest host Taylor Gess is joined by Stefanie Jackman to discuss amended debt collection regulations and restrictions for creditors, including tight communication limits and enhanced validation requirements. The conversation dives into the rise of coerced debt statutes, shortcomings of traditional identity theft frameworks, and how creditors should adjust training, intake, and escalation protocols to avoid reputational and legal risk. The discussion also explores state medical debt reporting bans, the preemption challenges, and cautious furnishing in the FCRA landscape. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rebecca Benghiat holds a JD, passed the bar, and skipped corporate law to build mental health systems instead. She now serves as Chief of Staff and Head of Impact at Inner Foundation, where she helps direct capital toward emerging adults ages 18 to 30 and asks a hard question every day: Is this actually working?In this conversation, she dismantles the myth of easy fixes. She explains why mental health measurement resists clean metrics, why a PHQ 9 score starts a conversation but never finishes one, and why “scale” often flatters institutions more than it helps people. She breaks down how impact investing shapes care delivery, why schools need networked systems not slogans, and why friction might be developmentally necessary.The stakes are real. Vulnerable families navigate snake oil, glossy apps, and pay to play algorithms while carrying the burden of choice in crisis. Benghiat lives inside that complexity and refuses to simplify it.RELATED LINKSRebecca BenghiatInner FoundationAspen Ideas HealthThe Jed FoundationFEEDBACKLike 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.

At age 12, Dr. Chrystal Starbird stood by a pond after turning her mother in to the police. She watched tadpoles and fish move beneath the surface and found a strange kind of order. Science became her refuge long before it became her career. Years later, she built that refuge into a profession. She now serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina, studies structural biology tied to cancer and Alzheimer's disease, and won Cell's first Rising Black Scientist Award in 2020. On paper, she fits the model of success. In practice, she had to fight for basic access at every stage.Conference travel required upfront cash she did not have. Networking favored pedigree over merit. Mentorship often depended on who knew your name in the room. Chrystal learned those rules, then chose to break them open for others.Oliver Bogler examines what Chrystal calls the advocacy tax. She has delivered over 70 invited talks. Nearly 40 percent focus on equity, mentorship, and policy. Academic reward systems do not count that labor toward tenure. She still does it.Through her leadership at the Life Science Editors Foundation, Chrystal helped build the JEDI program, which pairs underrepresented scientists with editors from journals like Cell and Nature. The program has supported over 100 awardees with more than 1,000 hours of mentorship. This episode exposes how biomedical science rewards output while ignoring the work required to make the system accessible. It also shows what happens when the people most affected refuse to step back.RELATED LINKSDr. Chrystal StarbirdStarbird LabLife Science Editors FoundationJEDI ProgramFEEDBACKLike 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.

At 19, Jansher Naim went from sharp stomach pain to a Stage 4 fibrolamellar diagnosis that few doctors see and even fewer young adults survive. He pushed through 41 rounds of chemotherapy, a Whipple surgery, and months of isolation while his friends kept moving through normal college life. In the studio, Jansher sits beside his mother Sadia Siddiqui, who refused early defeat and helped overhaul his care team when the first plan offered little optimism. Now a Computer Science student at Columbia, Jansher lives in the uneasy space between remission and risk, managing fertility decisions, travel for ongoing care, and the strange pressure to look fine at 22. Together they describe what it takes to grow up fast inside a system that rarely knows what to do with young adults who refuse to disappear.RELATED LINKSJansher NaimSadia SiddiquiFibroFighters FoundationColumbia 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.

Researchers say many cases begin with unclear pricing and billing, and can escalate into wage garnishment and financial hardship.

Four in 10 Americans have medical debt. Most don't know there's a federal law that could eliminate it. On this episode of The Dose podcast, host Joel Bervell talks with Jared Walker about his nonprofit, Dollar For, which has helped Americans erase more than $100 million in medical debt by connecting them to the charity care programs that hospitals are legally required to offer but rarely publicize. "These hospitals are great. They're saving people's lives every single day," says Walker. "The problem is that they're also ruining people's financial lives." With Medicaid cuts on the horizon and health care costs continuing to rise, Walker explains how Dollar For's free screening tool works, why some states are doing a better job of protecting patients than others, and what it will take to make hospitals do what the law already requires.

Jessica Federer built her career inside the rooms where science, money, and power collide. As the first female Chief Digital Officer at Bayer, she helped steer a 120,000 person global company through the rise of digital medicine while confronting a harder truth: women were excluded from U.S. clinical trials until 1993. In this conversation, she explains how decades of “first in man” research shaped drug development, why women experience side effects at nearly 2x the rate of men, and how guidance on sex based differences did not arrive from the FDA until December 2025. She shares what it means to sit on a Yale Institutional Review Board, why clinical trial stipends over $3,000 get taxed, and why she believes participants deserve tax credits instead. From GLP 1 profits to $40,000,000 women's health funds that barely move the needle, this episode names the gaps and the opportunity hiding inside them. RELATED LINKSJessica Federer on LinkedInJessica Federer on InstagramYale School of Public HealthHealth of Women Investor SummitFEEDBACKLike 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 week's episode of Medicine: The Truth, hosts Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl balance two sides of American healthcare: the encouraging scientific advances that could help people live longer and healthier lives, and the growing affordability and trust crises threatening patients across the country. The conversation opens on an optimistic note. Dr. Pearl highlights new Yale research showing that aging is far less deterministic than many Americans assume. Rather than a steady and unavoidable decline, the study found that nearly half of adults over 65 improved physically, cognitively or both over a 12-year period. He pairs that story with new cardiovascular guidance from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, which shifts prevention toward a much longer time horizon and argues that earlier LDL management could prevent a significant share of heart attacks and strokes later in life. The episode then pivots to the mounting financial and institutional pressures facing patients, hospitals and public-health agencies. From rising medical debt and medication nonadherence to declining vaccine trust, hospital cost inflation and the political barriers keeping GLP-1 drugs unaffordable in the United States, the discussion captures both the promise and the fragility of healthcare in 2026. Here are the other major storylines from episode 105: Supplements fail the evidence test: Pearl reviews clinical trial data showing that commonly used supplements such as fish oil, garlic, turmeric, cinnamon and red yeast rice performed no better than placebo in lowering LDL, reinforcing the continued value of lifestyle interventions and low-cost statins. Medical costs continue to destabilize families: New Gallup-linked research shows that 82 million Americans are already making sacrifices to pay medical bills, from skipping meals to delaying retirement. Drug unaffordability worsens medication adherence: A new KFF survey finds that nearly 60% of Americans worry about affording prescriptions, with 43% reporting they have not taken medications as prescribed because of cost. Generative AI adoption surges among physicians: According to a new AMA survey, 81% of doctors now use generative AI in clinical practice, most commonly for documentation, literature summaries and chart support. Hospitals face intensifying economic pressure: The American Hospital Association reports that care delivery costs rose 7.5% last year, driven by higher labor expenses, drug prices, supply inflation and sicker patients. Trust in vaccine authorities continues to erode: Following the legal challenge to RFK Jr.'s overhaul of the federal vaccine advisory committee, new polling shows trust in federal vaccine recommendations has fallen sharply. Newborn preventive care is now affected by distrust: Pearl warns that refusal of vitamin K shots, hepatitis B vaccination and antibiotic eye ointment at birth is rising, reversing decades of scientific progress and reintroducing preventable newborn risks. Alzheimer's blood tests show progress, but not prediction: New FDA-cleared blood tests can help identify Alzheimer's disease as the likely cause of current dementia, but Dr. Pearl explains why they remain far less useful for predicting disease years before symptoms begin. The fax machine may finally be dying: In one of the episode's lighter moments, Dr. Pearl notes that CMS is moving to phase out fax-machine communication across HIPAA-covered entities, a long-overdue modernization step that could save taxpayers nearly $1 billion annually. Residency match reaches record size: The 2026 residency match was the largest in history, with more than 48,000 applicants competing for over 44,000 positions. Early heat waves carry serious health consequences: With unusual March heat across parts of the country, Dr. Pearl explains why early-season heat is especially dangerous, increasing risks of dehydration, kidney injury, cardiovascular strain and mental health emergencies. GLP-1 drugs go generic abroad while U.S. prices stay high: As Novo Nordisk's blockbuster GLP-1 medications go generic in India and other global markets, Dr. Pearl contrasts international pricing with U.S. costs and argues that congressional inaction on drug pricing remains one of healthcare's clearest failures. Tune in for more fact-based analysis and practical perspective on the healthcare stories shaping medicine today. * * * Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of “ChatGPT, MD: How AI-Empowered Patients & Doctors Can Take Back Control of American Medicine” about the impact of AI on the future of medicine. Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Spotify or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on X and LinkedIn. The post MTT #105: New science on aging, rising medical debt & healthcare’s fax problem appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

In this week's episode of Medicine: The Truth, hosts Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl balance two sides of American healthcare: the encouraging scientific advances that could help people live ... The post MTT #105: New science on aging, rising medical debt & healthcare’s fax problem appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

Monique Gore Massey spent 2.5 years cycling through New York City emergency rooms while her body shut down. Fevers hit 105. Her weight dropped from 122 pounds to 72 in 3 months. Hair fell out in clumps. No one ran an ANA test. Doctors blamed stress, old sports injuries, migraines. When a physician finally named it lupus, she added that she hoped it was not. Months later, Monique heard the words “get your affairs in order.”In this episode, Monique details living with lupus nephritis, pericarditis, fibromyalgia, and the daily math of survival. She recounts arriving at a patient conference shortly after coming off crutches and requesting elevator access for support, only to face resistance at a health summit that claimed to center patients. She breaks down what it costs when industry extracts lived experience for free and calls it engagement. Listeners will hear what invisible illness looks like in real time, how bias delays diagnosis, and why advocacy without strategy leaves patients exploited instead of respected.RELATED LINKSMonique Gore MasseyLupus Foundation of AmericaFEEDBACKLike 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.

Teresa Baglietto has lived through the kind of compounded harm that exposes how thin the safety net really is. In this episode she walks through a life shaped by medical neglect, personal violence, and the exhausting labor of self advocacy. She nearly died after a C section when hospital staff failed to confirm she had urinated before discharge, spending 15 days hospitalized and separated from her newborn while facing the possibility of permanent damage. In 2013 she discovered an aggressive breast cancer and waited weeks for test results and surgery while administrators stalled and passed responsibility. Care only moved forward after she threatened public exposure. Teresa also speaks openly about surviving rape in high school, losing her father to cancer at age 48 when she was 10, and growing up without reliable adults in the room. She explains why it took 7 years to write her book, why she launched a podcast, and how sales grit becomes a survival tool when patients must fight systems designed to delay them. The conversation stays specific, unsentimental, and grounded in consequence.RELATED LINKSTeresa Baglietto on LinkedInThe Ripple Effect by Teresa BagliettoIn Shock PodcastIn Shock Podcast on InstagramCanvas Rebel interview with Teresa BagliettoFEEDBACKLike 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.

Science likes to call itself a meritocracy. Angela Anderson and Brandi Mattson know better. Both served as editors at elite journals (Cell and Neuron), where a single decision could determine who gets tenure, funding, or obscurity. They watched brilliant data get filtered out because the authors did not know the unwritten rules controlled by 5 dominant publishing houses with profit margins higher than Google.In 2020, amid pandemic shutdowns and national reckoning over racial injustice, they co-founded a nonprofit to expose that hidden curriculum. Through the JEDI program, they provide 10 hours of free editorial consulting to scientists who lack access to elite networks. In 1 year alone, 25 awards helped researchers salvage canceled grants, secure NSF career funding, and rebuild careers derailed by rejection.This episode pulls back the curtain on the multibillion dollar publishing engine that profits from taxpayer funded science and reveals who gets heard, who gets sidelined, and how insiders are choosing to redistribute power.RELATED LINKSAngela AndersonBrandy MattsonLife Science EditorsLife Science Editors FoundationCellNeuronNational Science FoundationFEEDBACKLike 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's episode of Out of Patients welcomes Dr Pamela Buchanan, an emergency room physician with over 20 years inside American medicine who refuses to sugarcoat what the job demands and what it destroys. She worked straight through COVID as protocols changed by the day and deaths arrived faster than anyone could process. She logged 80 to 100 hour weeks. She isolated from her family to avoid bringing the virus home. Over time, survival began to feel negotiable.Dr Buchanan speaks openly about burnout as emotional flatline and about physician suicide as a predictable outcome that leadership prefers to ignore. She describes the ER as the catch all for a broken system and explains why chronic care collapses there by design. She shares the reality of trying to access mental health care while still practicing medicine, calling dozens of therapists, getting nowhere, and spending $10,000 to $15,000 out of pocket just to stay alive and functional.Listeners will hear how neurodivergence shaped her career in emergency medicine, how race and trust intersect inside hospital walls, and why doctors are leaving in waves. This conversation carries clarity, anger, humor, and hard earned truth from someone who stayed long enough to name the damage.RELATED LINKSDr Pamela BuchananStrong MedicineDr Pamela Buchanan on LinkedInDr Pamela Buchanan on InstagramEmotional Flatline articleKevinMD essay by Dr Pamela BuchananFEEDBACKLike 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.

Sometimes, after an accident, medical bills force families to give up nonessential expenses, like their kids' sports. A local charity is helping families in that situation. We'll hear from the organization's founder and families the group has helped.

#ThisMorning | What #toDo About #Medical #Debt | Ted Rossman, Bankrate | #Tunein: broadcastretirementnetwork.com #Aging, #Finance, #Lifestyle, #Privacy, #Retirement, #wellness

The ‘CHATGPT' Of Oncology: How AI Is Bridging The Gap In Cancer Care A person's life expectancy should never be determined by their zip code, yet access to top-tier cancer centers remains a major factor in survival rates. To bridge this gap, a new AI-driven platform is providing patients with expert breakdowns of their specific diagnosis. Our experts this week discuss how this new tool is ensuring all patients have access to the most effective and up-to-date care strategies available. Guests:  Simone Jensen, founder & CEO, Radical Health Elisabeth Drabkin, board member, Radical Health's Patient Advisory Board Host: Elizabeth Westfield Producer: Kristen Farrah     The Patient Playbook: Navigating Billing Systems And Reducing Medical Debt Do you know that you should never pay a medical bill as soon as you receive it? This is just one of many common mistakes patients make that's losing them a lot of money. Our expert this week breaks down how to take control of your financial health and get rid of unnecessary medical debt. Guests: Caitlin Donovan, senior director, Patient Advocate Foundation Host: Greg Johnson Producers: Kristen Farrah Facebook: ingoodhealthpodX: @ ingoodhealthpodIG: @ingoodhealthpodYouTube: @ingoodhealthpodSpotify Apple Podcast In Good Health PodcastSubscribed to the newsletterFull ArchiveContact UsBecome an Affiliate Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Patient Playbook: Navigating Billing Systems And Reducing Medical Debt Do you know that you should never pay a medical bill as soon as you receive it? This is just one of many common mistakes patients make that's losing them a lot of money. Our expert this week breaks down how to take control of your financial health and get rid of unnecessary medical debt. Guests: Caitlin Donovan, senior director, Patient Advocate Foundation Host: Greg Johnson Producers: Kristen Farrah Facebook: ingoodhealthpodX: @ ingoodhealthpodIG: @ingoodhealthpodYouTube: @ingoodhealthpodSpotify Apple Podcast In Good Health PodcastSubscribed to the newsletterFull ArchiveContact UsBecome an Affiliate Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dr. Barbara Paldus is the Founder and CEO of CODEX Labs, the sponsor of this episode.She grew up around Nobel Prize winners, built biotech manufacturing equipment for vaccines and cancer therapeutics, and then sold her company after an 8 year old threatened suicide.Her son's severe eczema pushed her into an unregulated $100,000,000,000 skincare market where parents are told to trust labels that nobody verifies. She explains how corticosteroid ladders leave patients with years long withdrawal, why U.S. ingredient oversight lags Europe, and how chemotherapy destroys the same skin and gut barriers seen in inflammatory disease.The conversation tracks the real stakes behind “clean” marketing: a child's immune system, hospital infections like MRSA, and patients trying to survive treatment without new damage. She also details the research path from Irish medical manuscripts to microbiome science and why sick populations become the only reliable regulators when policy fails.RELATED LINKSBarbara PaldusCodex LabsSekhmet VenturesDr Peter LioFEEDBACKLike 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.

Dr Eugene Manley grew up in Detroit in the 1980s cycling through emergency rooms 20 to 30 times a year with asthma and anaphylaxis while hospital staff talked past his family and buried them in paperwork they could not decode. He responded by earning a BS in mechanical engineering an MS in biomedical engineering and a PhD in molecular biology cell biology and biochemistry. Along the way he tore his ACL training for a jiu jitsu black belt worked 86 straight days in a lab during his doctorate and learned how academic and clinical systems punish people who refuse to shrink.In this episode Manley walks through a recent post surgery ordeal at Mount Sinai Queens where staff falsified records attempted an illegal discharge and nearly sent him home on the wrong blood thinner. He explains how medical racism shows up in charts staffing and decision making and why measurable equity fails without accountability. Listeners hear how his STEMM and Cancer Health Equity Foundation builds pipelines for underrepresented students challenges clinical trial design and teaches patients how to protect themselves when institutions lie. RELATED LINKS• Eugene Manley Jr• STEMM and Cancer Health Equity Foundation• Village Voice• LUNGevity FoundationFEEDBACKLike 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.

An LA program is helping wipe away medical debt. A new buyer has stepped in for the graffiti covered skyscrapers in downtown LA. And sand dunes are making a comeback on Santa Monica beaches to prevent erosion. Plus, more from Evening Edition. Support The L.A. Report by donating at LAist.com/join and by visiting https://laist.comSupport the show: https://laist.com

Jenny Opalinski has spent more than a decade inside hospitals where people lose the ability to speak, breathe, swallow, and sometimes survive. A medical speech language pathologist by training, she worked in ICU, neuro rehab, and long term acute care settings, including a Level 1 trauma center, where she watched clinicians absorb 10 to 15 traumatic events in a single shift and then get told to move the crash cart faster next time.That lived reality pushed her to co found The Wellness Shift, an advocacy and education platform focused on healthcare worker burnout, suicide, and assault. In this conversation, Opalinski walks through the moment that changed everything for her: standing in a hospital hallway listening to a family wail after a failed code, followed by a debrief that addressed logistics and ignored grief entirely.She also explains how that work led to Humanity Rx, her podcast about the human cost of medicine, and Dragon's Breath: Calming Tricks for Big Feelings, a children's book that translates evidence based breathing and regulation strategies into language kids can actually use. The episode covers moral injury, time scarcity, false wellness, respiratory muscle training, and why empathy keeps getting treated as an optional expense instead of clinical infrastructure.RELATED LINKSJenny Opalinski on LinkedInThe Wellness ShiftHumanity RxDragon's Breath: Calming Tricks for Big FeelingsAspire Respiratory ProductsFEEDBACKLike 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.

The symptoms started in kindergarten: Profuse vomiting, unexplained stomach issues and a sense of utter panic that no one could explain. For Katlyn Brooks, this wasn't just a ‘childhood phase’ - it was the beginning of a terrifying 20-year medical mystery…. The search for a physical cause turned into a mental health one, where therapy and antidepressants became the default solution. But, despite medication and regular therapy sessions, Katlyn's suffering only intensified. By high school, she knew the truth: this wasn't in her head. But realising that was one thing; getting the medical world to believe her was another. By April 2024, Katlyn’s body reached breaking point. Weighing just 40kg, and vomiting nonstop, she was admitted to hospital. There, she was eventually diagnosed with three conditions, including Craniocervical Instability (CCI). This structural failure left her just 2mm away from "internal decapitation", a condition with a 70% mortality rate. Today, Katlyn joins us to walk through her journey of medical mystery to the life-saving surgery that literally bolted her head back onto her spine. She discusses the "dark cloud" that lifted the moment her vagus nerve was decompressed and the reality of living with more than $1,000,000 of medical debt. THE END BITS Read more about Katlyn's story here. All your health information is in the Well Hub. If today's episode has brought up difficult feelings and if you just need to talk to someone immediately, you can always call Lifeline on 13 11 14. Remember to be kind to yourself, and please don't hesitate to seek support. To find out more about Katlyn's conditions, check out the resources below: The Ehlers-Danlos Society EDS GP Toolkit The Mast Cell Disease Society (TMS) Mast Cell Action CCI Foundation The Bobby Jones CSF To support Katlyn’s ongoing recovery and help manage the significant medical debt incurred during her 20-year journey, visit Katlyn’s GoFundMe. Visit Katlyn's Facebook page. GET IN TOUCH Sign up to the Well Newsletter to receive your weekly dose of trusted health expertise without the medical jargon. Ask a question of our experts or share your story, feedback, or dilemma - you can send it anonymously here, email here or leave us a voice note here. Ask The Doc: Ask us a question in The Waiting Room. Follow us on Instagram and Tiktok. Support independent women’s media by becoming a Mamamia subscriber CREDITS Hosts: Claire Murphy and Dr Mariam Guest: Katlyn Brooks Senior Producers: Claire Murphy and Sally Best Audio Producer: Scott Stronach Video Producer: Julian Rosario Social Producer: Elly Moore Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.Information discussed in Well. is for education purposes only and is not intended to provide professional medical advice. Listeners should seek their own medical advice, specific to their circumstances, from their treating doctor or health care professional. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Support the show: https://www.mamamia.com.au/mplus/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sarah Gromko and Matthew Zachary go back to SUNY Binghamton in the early 1990s, when they were barely 19 and living inside rehearsal rooms. She starred in campus musical theater productions. He served as pianist and music director for many of those shows and played rehearsal piano for the THEA101 repertory company. This episode reunites two former theater nerds who grew up and took very different paths through art, illness, and work that still circles the same truth.Gromko trained as a singer and composer, studied film scoring at Berklee College of Music, worked in New York and New Orleans, then moved into healthcare as a speech language pathologist and recognized vocologist. She explains aphasia, apraxia, dysarthria, and dysphagia with clarity earned from the clinic. She recounts helping a 16 year old gunshot survivor in New Orleans speak again using Melodic Intonation Therapy. The conversation covers voice banking for ALS, gender affirming voice care, and the damage caused when medicine confuses speech loss with intelligence loss. The result feels like an epic reunion powered by 1990s nostalgia and sharpened by decades of lived consequence.RELATED LINKSSarah GromkoGramco VoiceMelodic Intonation 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.

Matt Hampton and Dr Tom Ingegno came into my world the way the best guests always do. They found me first. They pulled me onto their Irreverent Health Podcast, a show that blends medicine, curiosity, and unapologetic nonsense the same way Gen X kids blended Saturday morning cartoons with nuclear-war anxiety. We recorded together, we went off the rails together, and by the end I told them the rule. If you ever come to New York, you sit in my studio. No exceptions.They showed up. They took the hot seat. They told Alexa to shut up. They joked about Postmates. They compared bifocals before I even hit record. From there it turned into a full blown eighties time machine powered by weed policy, AI diagnostics, acupuncture philosophy, art school trauma, cannabis data science, paranormal detours, and the kind of deep cut pop culture references only Gen X survivors can decode.Matt builds AI systems. Tom heals people with needles and a lifetime of East Asian medicine. Together they make healthcare funny without pretending it works. They remind you that curiosity carries weight when the system collapses under its own stupidity.This episode is a reunion of three loudmouths raised on Atari, late night cable, and the hard lesson that you either tell the truth or get flattened by it. Go subscribe to Irreverent Health. These guys earned it.RELATED LINKS• Irreverent Health Podcast• Matt Hampton – Consilium Institute• Envoy Design• Dr. Tom Ingegno – Charm City Integrative Health• The Cupping Book• You Got Sick—Now What?• Matt Hampton on LinkedIn• Dr. Tom Ingegno on LinkedInFEEDBACKLike 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' Rob Lott interviews John Scott of the University of Washington about his recent paper exploring findings on the financial fallout from traumatic injuries, highlighting persistent medical debt burdens and the policy gaps that leave many patients unprotected. Order the February 2026 issue of Health Affairs.Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcast

Bill Thach has had 9 lines of treatment, over 1,000 doses of chemo, and more scans than an airport. He runs ultramarathons for fun. He jokes about being his own Porta Potty. He became a father, then got cancer while his daughter was 5 months old. Today she is 8. He hides the worst of it so she can believe he stands strong, even when he knows that hiding has a cost.We talk about the illusion of strength, what it means to look fine when your body is falling apart, and how a random postcard in an MD Anderson waiting room led him to Man Up to Cancer, where he now leads Diversity and AYA Engagement. Fatherhood. Rage. Sex. Denial. Humor. Survival. All that and why the words good morning can act like a lifeline.RELATED LINKSFight Colorectal CancerCURE TodayINCA AllianceMan Up to CancerWeeViewsYouTubeLinkedInFEEDBACKLike 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.

Shannon Burkett has lived about six lives. Broadway actor. SNL alum. Nurse. Filmmaker. Advocate. Cancer survivor. And the kind of person who makes you question what you've done with your day. She wrote and produced My Vagina—the stop-motion musical kind, not the cry-for-help kind—and built a global movement after her son was poisoned by lead dust in their New York apartment. Out of that came LEAD: How This Story Ends Is Up to Us, a documentary born from rage, science, and maternal defiance. We talked about everything from The Goonies to Patrick Stewart to the quiet rage of parenting in a country that treats public health like a hobby. This episode is about art, anger, resilience, and what happens when an unstoppable theater nerd turned science geek Jersey girl collides with an immovable healthcare system.RELATED LINKSShannon Burkett Official SiteLEAD: How This Story Ends Is Up to UsEnd Lead PoisoningLinkedIn: Shannon BurkettBroadwayWorld ProfileFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Michael Kramer was 19 when cancer ambushed his life. He went from surfing Florida beaches to chemo, radiation, and a bone marrow transplant that left him alive but carrying a chronic disease. He had necrosis in his knees and elbows, lost his ability to surf for years, and found himself stuck in hospitals instead of the ocean. Yet he adapted. Michael picked up a guitar, built Lego sets, led support groups, and started sharing his story on Instagram and TikTok.We talk about masculinity, identity, and what happens when the thing that defines you gets stripped away. He opens up about dating in Miami, freezing sperm at a children's hospital, awkward Uber-for-sperm moments with his brother, and how meditation became survival. Michael lost his father to cancer when he was a teen, and that grief shaped how he lives and advocates today. He is funny, grounded, and honest about the realities of survivorship in your twenties. This episode shows what resilience looks like when you refuse to walk it off and choose to speak it out loud instead.RELATED LINKSMichael Kramer on InstagramMichael Kramer on TikTokMichael and Mom Inspire on YouTubeAshlee Cramer's BookUniversity of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer CenterStupid Cancer FEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Walk It Off on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship inquiries, email podcast@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.