Podcast Episodes

In this episode, we unpack Amazon’s efforts to “disrupt U.S. healthcare” (apologies for the new age business lingo!). And after their spectacular failure to disrupt anything, we talk about Amazon’s pivot from “disrupting” the healthcare industry to joining it. About a month ago, Amazon purchased One Medical, an in-person and virtual subscription-based healthcare service (the…

Any regular listeners of the podcast won’t be surprised to hear that Gen Xers and Millennials are going into debt for healthcare… but what if we told you that this time it’s for their pets! More Americans are spending more money on healthcare for their beloved pets, which means insurance companies are getting in on…

Today we’re checking in on the ongoing Pennsylvania Senate race, where Medicare for All–along with crudites, poop tweets, hydroxychloroquine, and Turkish nationalism–has become a hot-button issue. This race is beyond interesting, shading into the bizarre! A lot is at stake, since control over the Senate is going to be hotly contested this midterm election, and…

Ben discusses the “Inflation Reduction Act,” which was signed into law by President Biden this past week! In last-minute negotiations between Senators Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin, the Senate finally – after comical failures over and over this past year – passed a VERY scaled-down version of the Build Back Better bill. The “IRA” bill…

Noted public health expert Lizzo teaches us that “thick thighs save lives,” but for many of us, being fat is killing us – and not for the reasons you might expect. Today we’re talking about our healthcare system’s impact on fat folks AND how misconceptions about fat folks impact our healthcare policy! Recent studies have…

In spring of 2007, Michael Moore released a blockbuster documentary showing the extraordinary damage the U.S. healthcare system inflicts upon ordinary Americans. Story by story, SiCKO pulled back the veil of how ordinary illness and injury, when paired with deadly healthcare profiteering, leads to suffering, financial ruin, and even death. 15 years later, together with…

Show Notes Today we venture into the bizarro world of Medicare (the program serving those 65 and older as well as some people with disabilities) to explore the largest Medicare rate hike in history. Our guest Alex Lawson, the Executive Director of Social Security Works, will help explain what’s happening. Social Security Works is the…

Today we look at the somehow-legal world of healthcare sharing ministries, a form of health coverage where like-minded religious folks share health care costs. After a series of lawsuits and scandals, these companies are in the news again recently. We’ll look at what HCSMs are, how they have flourished as insurance costs rise, and the…

There’s some adult language in this episode, so might not be appropriate for our youngest M4A advocates. The recent leak of what is likely to be the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has us enraged about the future of abortion and healthcare in America. Spoiler: We aren’t loving the fact that five…