Tradeoffs is an award-winning nonprofit news organization on a mission to help America have smarter, more honest health policy conversations.
Tradeoffs explores the toughest choices in health care, diving into issues like the cost of care, health equity, insurance, mental health and artificial intelligence. We connect policy to practice, uncovering the data and personal stories that help audiences understand the stakes — and the potential solutions.
Learn more about us, find transcripts for each episode and additional reporting at https://tradeoffs.org.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Tradeoffs is an award-winning nonprofit news organization on a mission to help America have smarter, more honest health policy conversations.
Tradeoffs explores the toughest choices in health care, diving into issues like the cost of care, health equity, insurance, mental health and artificial intelligence. We connect policy to practice, uncovering the data and personal stories that help audiences understand the stakes — and the potential solutions.
Learn more about us, find transcripts for each episode and additional reporting at https://tradeoffs.org.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
America pays less, on average, than any other major country for our generic drugs. But selling essential drugs at such low prices comes with hidden costs — from quality problems to frequent shortages.
This is the second episode of Race to the Bottom, a three-part series by Tradeoffs on the problems plaguing the generic drugs we all rely on — and how we could fix them.
Guests:
Christine Baeder, MBA, President, Apotex USA
Laura Bray, MBA, Founder, Angels for Change
Craig Burton, Senior Vice President of Policy and Strategic Alliances, Association for Accessible Medicines
Iilun Murphy, MD, Director of the Office of Generic Drugs, FDA
Leslie Walker, Senior Reporter/Producer, Tradeoffs
Marta Wosińska, PhD, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.
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Generic drugs are, in many ways, the unsung hero of America’s health care system, bringing powerful medical innovations within the reach of millions more people. These cheaper copies of brand-name drugs — from pills that stop heart attacks to antibiotics that cure life-threatening infections — save America hundreds of billions of dollars a year. But will affordable, high-quality generic drugs continue to be there when we need them?
Some players are abandoning this business while others slash costs by cutting dangerous corners. Shortages of older generic drugs have become the norm, sending doctors scrambling. At the same time, crucial new medicines are proving tougher to copy on the cheap, saddling patients with brand-name prices.
Over the course of “Race to the Bottom,” our new three-part podcast series, we’ll explore why this industry that’s so essential to our health is in trouble — and what could change that.
In part one, we examine the history of this industry. Forty years ago this month, President Ronald Reagan signed groundbreaking, bipartisan legislation that gave birth to a new drug market. Lawmakers made choices back then that help explain the wild success and also the troubles we see today with generic medicines.
Guests:
Christine Baeder, MBA, President, Apotex USA
Alfred Engelberg, JD, retired attorney and former counsel to the Generic Pharmaceutical Association
Leslie Walker, Senior Reporter/Producer, Tradeoffs
Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.
Al Engelberg’s recently published memoir, “Breaking the Medicine Monopolies”, digs into the history of generic drugs.
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Black Americans report higher levels of mistrust in the health care system than white Americans and suffer worse outcomes in everything from maternal mortality to life expectancy. What if improving health literacy and demystifying health information could be the part of the solution?
This week, one doctor’s crusade to help more people understand their own health care and why insurers are starting to buy in.
Guests:
Lisa Fitzpatrick, MD, MPH, MPA, Founder and CEO, Grapevine Health
Keith Maccannon, Director of Marketing, Outreach and Community Relations, AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia
Yvonne Smith, Grapevine Client
Karen Dale, RN, MSN, Market President, AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia
Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.
Help us unlock a $5,000 match by becoming one of 200 new donors at tradeoffs.org/donate.
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A Chicago violence prevention program is pairing cognitive behavioral therapy with intensive mentoring and wraparound support to help high-risk teens avoid incarceration.
Guests:
Nour Abdul-Razzak, Research Associate, University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy; Research Director, University of Chicago Inclusive Economy Lab
Charles Branas, Professor and Chair, Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Toni Copeland, Director of Student Supports and Violence Prevention Programs, Chicago Public Schools
Jennifer Doleac, Executive Vice President of Criminal Justice, Arnold Ventures
Jasper Guilbault, Therapist, Brightpoint
Gary Ivory, President and CEO, Youth Advocate Programs
Julie Noobler, Director of Mental Health and Wellness, Brightpoint
T-Man
Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.
Help us unlock a $5,000 match by becoming one of 200 new donors at tradeoffs.org/donate.
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A leading addiction expert explains how he’s driven by the memory of a friend who died, and why he believes giving data on the drug supply to people on the street is more important than using it to inform national drug policy.
Guest:
Nabarun Dasgupta, Epidemiologist, University of North Carolina Street Drug Analysis Lab and Opioid Data Lab
Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.
Help us unlock a $5,000 match by becoming one of 200 new donors at tradeoffs.org/donate.
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A group of nurses in Baltimore wants to bring basic care to every person in a neighborhood regardless of age, health, income or insurance.
Can this idea from abroad take root in the United States?
Guests:
Dawn Alley, PhD, Head of Scale, IMPaCT Care
Asaf Bitton, MD, MPH, Executive Director, Ariadne Labs
Regina Hammond, Founder, Rebuild Johnston Square Neighborhood Organization
Chris Koller, President, Milbank Memorial Fund
Terry Lindsay, Community Health Worker, Sisters Together and Reaching, Inc. (STAR)
Sarah Szanton, PhD, RN, FAAN, Dean, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing; Founder, Neighborhood Nursing
Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.
Help us unlock a $5,000 match by becoming one of 200 new donors at tradeoffs.org/donate.
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Economist Amy Finkelstein has studied America’s patchwork of health insurance policies for more than 20 years. In a forthcoming book she concludes it’s time tear the whole system down.
This week, Dan talks with Amy about how she came to that conclusion and what a better system could look like.
Guest:
Amy Finkelstein, PhD, Professor of Economics, MIT
Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.
Help us unlock a $5,000 match by becoming one of 200 new donors at tradeoffs.org/donate.
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Several cities and counties are addressing street homelessness with a new approach, which experts say can clear encampments while protecting the health of people who are forced to move.
Guests:
Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.
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Facing mounting financial pressures, insurance companies are changing the prescription drug coverage available to many consumers in Medicare Part D.
Guests:
Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.
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Higher premiums and penalties have made shopping for Obamacare plans more confusing this year. Federal funding cuts have left consumers in many states with fewer guides to help them navigate their options. “I don’t want people to just feel ghosted,” a West Virginia navigator told Tradeoffs.
Guest:
We want to hear from you! Our audience survey takes less than ten minutes, and you’ll be entered to win one of two $50 Bookshop.org gift cards.
Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.
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Physician and New Yorker writer Dhruv Khullar says artificial intelligence is a powerful tool to get quicker and more accurate diagnoses. But it can also be dangerous.
Guest:
Dhruv Khullar, Physician, Weill Cornell Medical College; Contributing Writer, The New Yorker
We want to hear from you! Our audience survey takes less than ten minutes, and you’ll be entered to win one of two $50 Bookshop.org gift cards.
Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.
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Facing unprecedented pressure from the Trump administration, some of the world’s top drugmakers promise to cut prices. But experts say the savings might not be what they seem.
Guests:
We want to hear from you! Our audience survey takes less than ten minutes, and you’ll be entered to win one of two $50 Bookshop.org gift cards.
Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.
Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.
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Journalist Paula Span, who writes The New Old Age column for the New York Times, shares what she’s learned about how to age well.
Guest:
Paula Span, reporter and The New Old Age columnist for the New York Times
Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.
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What happens if President Trump cuts billions from research on how to make our health care system work better?
Guest(s):
Aaron Carroll, President and CEO, Academy Health
Stuart Buck, Executive Director, Good Science Project
Learn more on our website.
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It's been 90 days since Congress passed Trump’s megabill slashing health care spending and reshaping the Medicaid program. States are already knee-deep in dealing with the fallout.
Guests:
Hemi Tewarson, Executive Director, National Academy for State Health Policy
Leslie Walker, Senior Producer, Tradeoffs
Learn more on our website.
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Excerpts of a live conversation with two top health economists about how extra federal support has helped millions of Americans access health insurance, and what would happen if that aid went away.
Guests:
Katherine Baicker, Provost and Emmett Dedmon Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago
Jonathan Gruber, Ford Professor of Economics, MIT
Learn more on our website, and watch the full conversation on Penn LDI's YouTube page.
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Every year, millions of people’s medical care runs into the roadblock known as prior authorization, which requires an insurer to sign off before chemotherapy, surgery or countless other services can proceed. Who does this often onerous process help, who does it hurt and how could it work better for everyone?
Guests:
Tom Roberts, Oncologist, Mass General Cancer Center
Aaron Schwartz, Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy and Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Kathleen, Caregiver
Learn more on our website.
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Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Sarah Stillman explains why so many people with mental illness are starving to death in U.S. jails, who is profiting, and what can be done to prevent it.
Guest:
Sarah Stillman, Staff Writer, New Yorker; Founder, Yale Investigative Reporting Lab
Learn more on our website.
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Federal subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans are scheduled to shrink next year. Many shoppers are expected to be priced out of the market, leaving those who stay with higher premiums. It’s a dynamic that threatens to repeat, leaving markets with fewer and more expensive options as insurers exit, too. How did we get here?
Guest(s):
Learn more on our website.
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As states struggle to meet the needs of people with serious mental illness, some are signing on to a federal pilot project that’s funneling new funding into institutional care.
Guests:
Learn more on our website.
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