This is episode 91, “End ACO REACH.”
In this episode, I discuss why we need to end the Medicare ACO REACH program. ACO REACH or REACH is a program that transfers people from traditional Medicare to private health insurance.  
ACO is an acronym for “Accountable Care Organization” and REACH is an acronym for “Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health.”
Do not miss this episode as I discuss why REACH is bad for individuals and the nation. 

End ACO REACH

This is episode 90, “The Free Market Cannot Solve Every Problem.”
In this episode, I discuss why a free-market healthcare system will not solve the problems in U.S. health care. 
I reference the following video in this episode: Single-Payer: The ONLY Fix to the For-Profit Private Insurance SCAM!
There are three people in the above video. The main two are MSNBC hosts Ali Velshi and Lawerence O’Donnell. The third is Rep. Jim Jordan who is briefly seen and heard, and whose false statements are quickly refuted.
Do not miss this episode as I discuss why the free market is a market failure in health care, and why the free market cannot fix health care in the U.S.

The Free Market Cannot Solve Every Problem

This is episode 89, “The Security Threat of Our Current Healthcare System.”
We would demand action if a foreign adversary caused more than 76,000 deaths like the current U.S. healthcare system does. However, we continue to allow these deaths. We need to take action to end the carnage.
 

The Security Threat of Our Current Healthcare System

This is episode 88, “Why We Need Single-Payer Medicare for All in the United States.”
Do not miss this episode as I discuss some important reasons why we need Medicare for All.

Why We Need Single-Payer Medicare for All in the United States

This is episode 87, “The Illogic and Fraud of Medicare Advantage Plans.” 
Do not miss this episode as I discuss Medicare Advantage fraud and why the reasons for starting Medicare Advantage made no sense.
Here are links for the articles that I referenced in this podcast.
‘The Cash Monster Was Insatiable’: How Insurers Exploited Medicare for Billions (October 8, 2022)
Medicare Advantage Plans Often Deny Needed Care, Federal Report Finds (April 28, 2022)
Here are the links for the podcast episodes that I referenced in this podcast:
Link for all episodes: https://medicareforallexplained.org/episodes/
Episode 57: What You Need To Know About Medicare, Medigap, Medicare (Dis)Advantage, And How Medicare for All Benefits Seniors, Part 1 (June 1, 2021)
Episode 58: What You Need To Know About Medicare, Medigap, Medicare (Dis)Advantage, and How Medicare for All Benefits Seniors, Part 2 (June 15, 2021)
Episode 86: Medicare: A Complicated Mess (October 1, 2022)
 

The Illogic and Fraud of Medicare Advantage Plans

This is episode 86, “Medicare: A Complicated Mess.” 
In this episode, I discuss why Medicare is a complicated mess, how to make it better, and why single-payer Medicare for All would be better for seniors and everyone else.
Do not miss this episode as I discuss why Medicare is complicated and how to make it better.
The Medicare handbook can be found here: “Medicare & You 2023.”
Here are the links for problems with Medicare Advantage plans:
As Seniors Get Sicker, They're More Likely To Drop Medicare Advantage Plans (July 5, 2017)
Patients in poor health leave Medicare Advantage plans (July 11, 2017)
Medicare Advantage Spends Less on Care, So Why Is It Costing So Much? (August 7, 2017)
CMS is giving unfair competitive advantage to private Medicare Advantage plans (April 5, 2018)
Medicare Advantage Plans Found to Improperly Deny Many Claims (Oct 13, 2018)
Medicare Advantage plans profit by wholesale denial of legitimate claims (October 18, 2019)
Even Researchers Don’t Know Which Doctors Medicare Advantage Covers (July 8, 2019)
Insurers Running Medicare Advantage Plans Overbill Taxpayers By Billions As Feds Struggle To Stop It  (July 16, 2019)
Medicare Advantage Enrollees Discover Dirty Little Secret (Dec 3, 2019)
U.S. Watchdog Finds $6.7 Billion in Questionable Medicare Payments to Insurers (Dec 12, 2019)
Fraud Is Rampant in Medicare Advantage (Mar 13, 2021)
Medicare Advantage Plans Often Deny Needed Care, Federal Report Finds (April 28, 2022)
Government Watchdogs Attack Medicare Advantage for Denying Care and Overcharging (June 29, 2022)
 

Medicare: A Complicated Mess

This is episode 85, “The American Healthcare Mess.” 
My guest, Gilbert Simon, MD, wrote “Ripped Off!: Overtested, Overtreated and Overcharged, the American Healthcare Mess.” In 1989, Dr. Simon founded the Sacramento Family Medical Clinics to care for people who had trouble affording and getting quality healthcare. 
Before he founded his medical clinics, Dr. Simon was a pediatrician, and taught at Columbia University, University of California Davis School of Medicine, and California Northstate University School of Medicine. 
Do not miss this episode as Dr. Simon discusses the waste, inefficiency and profiteering that currently exists in the American healthcare system.
Correction: Dr. Simon said that we are “spending about 12 and a half dollars per capita” on health care. The correct figure is 12 and a half thousand dollars per capita.
 

The American Healthcare Mess

This is episode 84, "Puerto Rico’s History of Single-Payer."
My guest, Carlo Bosques, is a medical student in Puerto Rico. 
He was born and raised in Puerto Rico and did his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University, majoring in molecular and cellular biology. While at Johns Hopkins, he served as a volunteer at a clinic that served undocumented patients. That experience helped him to realize how inseparable health and policy were. 
While pursuing his medical degree in Puerto Rico, Mr Bosques leads a group of medical students in Project Arbona (Proyecto Arbona), that supports establishing a universal healthcare system in Puerto Rico. Mr. Bosques describes how Puerto Rico did have a single-payer healthcare system, which is an often forgotten part of its history that is rarely mentioned in the United States.
Do not miss this episode as Mr. Bosques discusses Puerto Rico’s former universal healthcare system, and how it was more effective than Puerto Rico’s current privatized healthcare system.

Puerto Rico’s History of Single-Payer

This is episode 83, “Why Medicare For All Is Cool!” 
In this episode, I describe what makes single-payer Medicare for All cool. In brief, it is cool because people get the medical care and prescription drugs they need when they need it without having to worry about cost. 
Do not miss this episode as I discuss all the reasons why Medicare for All is cool.
 

Why Medicare For All Is Cool!

This is episode 82, “Electronic Health Records and Interchangeable Data.”
My guest, A Jay Holmgren, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at University of California San Francisco and the Center for Clinical Informatics and Improvement Research, and a Senior Advisor at the Stanford Clinical Excellence Research Center.
He researches information technology and digital health, and uses quantitative social science to understand how information technology affects patients, providers, and health care organizations. Dr. Holmgren received a Masters degree in Health Informatics from the University of Michigan and a PhD in Health Policy from Harvard University.
Do not miss this episode as Dr. Holmgren discusses how Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems that can exchange data will help patients.

Electronic Health Records and Interchangeable Data

This is episode 81, “Little Things That Can Make a Difference.”
In this episode, I discuss two actions that can be taken that would make life easier and save time for most people. I discuss how interchangeable health data would save time when people change or go to a new doctor, and that the government could figure taxes for most people.
Do not miss this episode as I discuss how interchangeable health data and the government figuring taxes would save time and money for most people.
 

Little Things That Can Make a Difference

This is episode 80, “A Catastrophic Ruling: The Overturning of Guaranteed Abortion Access.”
My guest, Diljeet Singh, MD, is board certified in OB/GYN and Gynecologic Oncology. She also has an MPH in Maternal and Child Health, and a Ph.D. in Health Services Research. Dr. Singh currently practices in the Washington D.C. metro area. 
Do not miss this episode as Dr. Singh discusses how ending women’s guaranteed right to abortions will seriously harm women’s health.
I am including a link to this New York Times article, "Deleting Your Period Tracker Won’t Protect You," because some people may find it useful.

A Catastrophic Ruling: The Overturning of Guaranteed Abortion Access

This is episode 79, "Gun Violence and Public Health in the U.S." In this episode, I discuss gun violence and why gun violence is a serious public health threat in the United States. 
Do not miss this episode as I discuss why gun violence is so rampant in the United States and what can and should be done about it. 
Here are links to the video, article, and podcast episodes that I reference in this podcast:
Damaged caused by high-velocity bullets.
John McWhorter’s New York Times newsletter (Paywalled): Gun Violence Is Like What Segregation Was. An Unaddressed Moral Stain.
Episode 19: How Do We Meet the Needs of People Who Need Mental Health Services? Poorly! 
Episode 52: How We Can Meet the Mental Health Needs of Children and Adolescents 

 

Gun Violence and Public Health in the U.S.

This is episode 78, “Public Health, Single-Payer and the American Public Health Association.”
My guest, Anthony Spadaro, MD, MPH, is a resident physician in Emergency Medicine in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. He graduated from a combined MD/MPH program from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He was one of the authors on a policy statement endorsing single-payer healthcare as the path to universal healthcare endorsed by the American Public Health Association.
Do not miss this episode as Dr. Spadaro discusses what public health is and why the American Public Health Association endorsed single-payer health care. 

Public Health, Single-Payer and the American Public Health Association

This is episode 77, “The Healthcare Skin-in-the-Game Myth.” 
In this episode, I discuss why the assumption that people need to have skin in the game in healthcare is false and harmful to getting medical care. 
Do not miss this episode as I discuss how requiring skin in the game for healthcare prevents people from getting the medical care they need. 

The Healthcare Skin-in-the-Game Myth

This is episode 76, “Achieving the Cancer Moonshot in 10 Years.”
My guest, Diljeet Singh, MD, is board certified in OB/GYN and Gynecologic Oncology. She also has an MPH in Maternal & Child Health and a Ph.D. in Health Services Research. Dr. Singh currently practices in the Washington D.C. metro area. 
In February of this year, Pres. Biden released his plan for a “Cancer Moonshot.” His goals are  to reduce the cancer death rate by 50 percent within 25 years and to “improve the experience of people and their families living with and surviving cancer— and, by doing this and more, end cancer as we know it today.”
Dr. Singh explains how we could accomplish those goals within 10 years with what we know today.
Do not miss this episode as Dr. Singh explains how current knowledge and Medicare for All would allow us to achieve the goals of the Cancer Moonshot within 10 years.

Achieving the Cancer Moonshot in 10 Years

This is episode 75, “Jeffrey Sachs Testimony from the House Oversight Committee Hearing on Medicare for All.” 
The House Oversight and Reform Committee had a hearing on “Examining Pathways to Universal Health Coverage” on March 29, 2022, and Medicare for All was a large part of that discussion. In this episode, I play the testimony of Jeffrey Sachs, PhD. Dr. Sachs is an economics professor at Columbia University, and he makes important points about the U.S. healthcare system. The data shows that our results are worse than other nations and costs way more. We pay a high price for our poorly performing healthcare system. 
Note that Dr. Sachs’s testimony is even more powerful if you can see the graphs he displays during his testimony. Here is a link to his testimony on YouTube: Video Testimony of Jeffrey Sachs.
Do not miss this episode as Dr. Sachs uses data to illustrate how bad the U.S. Healthcare system is compared to other wealthy nations. 

Jeffrey Sachs Testimony from the House Oversight Committee Hearing on Medicare for All

This is episode 74, "Highlights from the House Oversight Committee Hearing on Medicare for All."
The House Oversight and Reform Committee had a hearing on “Examining Pathways to Universal Health Coverage,” and Medicare for All was a large part of that discussion. In this episode I highlight the testimony of a Representative and witnesses who explain why they support Medicare for All. 
Do not miss this episode as a variety of people discuss our harmful healthcare system. 
This episode is late because I was sick this past week. Hopefully, that won't happen again.

Highlights from the House Oversight Committee Hearing on Medicare for All

This is episode 73, “Some Survey Results on Why Having Health Insurance Doesn’t Mean Squat.” 
In this episode, I discuss a recent survey that shows why having health insurance often doesn’t mean squat, and I review the survey results that show some of the economic harm caused by the U.S. health insurance system.
Do not miss this episode as I discuss how this survey illustrates the economic harm caused by the U.S. health insurance system and how Medicare for All provides the solution to this problem.
 

Some Survey Results on Why Having Health Insurance Doesn’t Mean Squat

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

Medicare For All Explained

Medicare For All Explained

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