Pulse Check: Recent Episodes
Kristen Hayford
Weekly conversations with some of the most interesting and influential people in health care, hosted by POLITICO Pulse author Dan Diamond.
"If I can leave behind a series of things that help reshape how we think about what happens at the end of your life, and what we really think about health care rights or where we're going with costs ... that's my shot, as long as I can do that."
Atul Gawande doesn't really need an introduction — but if PULSE CHECK were to provide one, it would highlight his work as a New Yorker writer, researcher, best-selling author, surgeon and founder of two non-profits. (Among other responsibilities)
Atul sat down with POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss how he manages his schedule (starts at the 2:05 mark), his book "Being Mortal" and how he thinks its lessons have resonated (5:50), his perspective on politics and public health (11:20), his early career as a Hill staffer and Clinton-era appointee at HHS (18:00), whether he'd ever take a job in D.C. again (26:00) and his writing process (28:00).
Plus, stick around to hear Atul answer PULSE CHECK listener questions, which starts at the 40:20 mark.
We’d appreciate your help: Please share PULSE CHECK and rate us on your favorite podcast app!
Have questions, suggestions or feedback? Email ddiamond@politico.com.
Stories and book referenced on the podcast:
Atul's 2015 book, "Being Mortal": https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JCW0BCY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Atul's 2009 story, "The Cost Conundrum": https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/06/01/the-cost-conundrum
Atul's 2009 story, "Hellhole": https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/03/30/hellhole
North Carolina has been ground zero for some of 2017’s fiercest policy and political battles, including a legal fight between the Democratic governor and GOP legislature over Medicaid expansion. Enter Mandy Cohen, the state’s new HHS secretary, who says she’s a pragmatist and is focused on building bipartisan consensus for public health issues like the opioid epidemic.
Cohen, who was a top CMS official in the Obama administration, joined POLITICO’s Dan Diamond to discuss what a state-level HHS secretary does (starts at the 1:45 mark), how she balances a state's pull-push relationship with the federal government (9:00), how her boss’s fight for Medicaid expansion has and hasn’t affected her job (12:40), where she sees opportunity for bipartisan public health successes (19:00), where North Carolina stands ahead of ACA open enrollment (26:30), and how she built her career to become a state HHS secretary before she turned 40 years old (30:45).
Then after the break, POLITICO’s Paul Demko joins Dan to discuss Obamacare’s looming open enrollment and what he learned from his reporting trip to Iowa, where only one insurer is left in the state’s ACA individual insurance market. (Starts at the 35:20 mark.)
We’d appreciate your help: Please share PULSE CHECK and rate us on your favorite podcast app!
Have questions, suggestions or feedback? Email ddiamond@politico.com or tweet him @ddiamond.
Stories referenced on the podcast:
The Associated Press on N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper’s plan to expand Medicaid: https://apnews.com/a3e84ad54369413cbb262f958adc8545
Paul’s story on how Iowa became “an Obamacare horror story”: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/23/iowa-obamacare-aca-markets-215736
The Washington conversation has been focused on the fate of the ACA and whether insurers are planning to stick around. So for this episode of PULSE CHECK, we took the conversation outside the Beltway to hear from Mario Schlosser, CEO of Oscar Health — the insurance startup that’s gotten a lot of buzz and is heading into more Obamacare markets this year.
Mario caught up with POLITICO’s Dan Diamond last month to discuss Oscar's evolving strategy (starts at the 2:00 mark), why Oscar is moving into new Obamacare markets (8:05), the company's much-hyped founding story (16:00) and some of the unwanted attention on Oscar, including the insurer's ties to Jared Kushner (26:10).
We’d appreciate your help: Please share PULSE CHECK and rate us on your favorite podcast app!
Have questions, suggestions or feedback? Email ddiamond@politico.com.
Every shortlist of health care power players includes Bernard Tyson, head of Kaiser Permanente. (Modern Healthcare this summer ranked him the fourth most influential person, after Sens. Collins, McCain and Murkowski.) So how does this prominent figure see the industry, and what's he telling Congress?
Bernard caught up with POLITICO’s Dan Diamond last week to discuss the whirlwind around ACA repeal and what he wants to see fixed (starts at the 1:50 mark), whether insurers can come back to Obamacare markets (9:00), his own career path and whether it's replicable today (23:30), KP's role as an employer and community anchor (29:00), and the future of his organization (33:30).
We’d appreciate your help: Please share PULSE CHECK and rate us on your favorite podcast app!
Have questions, suggestions or feedback? Email ddiamond@politico.com.
The political fights over U.S. health policy often pale next to the world's health care challenges — and Sue Desmond-Hellmann would know.
The doctor-turned-CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is on the front lines of the global public health battle, as her organization tackles challenges like eradicating polio and preventing maternal and newborn deaths.
Sue caught up with POLITICO’s Dan Diamond last week to discuss if the Trump administration’s putting global progress at risk (starts at the 2:45 mark), the Gates Foundation’s work around the globe, the public health priorities that are being overlooked, and the role of philanthropy in solving the world’s crises.
We’d appreciate your help: Please share PULSE CHECK and rate us on your favorite podcast app!
Have questions, suggestions or feedback? Email ddiamond@politico.com.
Here’s how fast things are moving in health care: Mike Leavitt, who ran HHS under President George W. Bush, came to Washington 10 days ago to testify about the need for bipartisan health reforms — and since that day, when he sat down with POLITICO's Dan Diamond, the Senate’s bipartisan health push has collapsed and the GOP’s latest Obamacare repeal bill is on life support.
Although the conversation is slightly dated, the former HHS secretary is a must-listen voice on health care issues, and he shares his perspective on possible health reforms (starts at the 16:30 mark), his pessimism on Medicare-for-all (22:00), his concerns about the Affordable Care Act (25:15) and his post-government work as head of Leavitt Partners (32:30).
But first, POLITICO’s Rachana Pradhan and Jennifer Haberkorn join PULSE CHECK to break down the wild week in health care (starts at the 2:15 mark) and Rachana and Dan’s reporting about HHS Secretary Tom Price’s charter jets — an investigation that made this podcast so delayed (starts at 8:55 mark).
We’d appreciate your help: Please share PULSE CHECK and rate us on your favorite podcast app!
Have questions, suggestions or feedback? Email ddiamond@politico.com.
Stories referenced on the podcast:
Jen's story with colleagues on Sen. John McCain's decision to oppose ACA repeal again: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/22/mccain-to-oppose-graham-cassidy-likely-sinking-obamacare-repeal-243028?lo=ap_a1
Dan and Rachana’s investigation into Tom Price's use of charter planes: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/19/tom-price-chartered-planes-flights-242908
Rachana and Dan's follow-up on Price's 24 charter flights since May: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/21/tom-price-private-charter-plane-flights-242989
PULSE CHECK is back from August recess with a closer look at how health care politics and policy can influence spending — and sometimes not for the better.
But first, Jen Haberkorn and Adam Cancryn rejoin PULSE CHECK to discuss the competing approaches to Obamacare in the Senate, whether either plan has a chance at succeeding, and if the GOP still wants to fight to repeal the law (starts at the 1:23 mark).
After the break, Yale economist Zack Cooper discusses his team's first-of-its-kind work into the connection between politics, hospital behavior and health care spending, and how one last-minute addition to a major piece of Medicare legislation boosted hospital payments — and politicians' campaign contributions (starts at the 22:30 mark).
We’d appreciate your help: Please share PULSE CHECK and rate us on your favorite podcast app!
Have questions, suggestions or feedback? Email ddiamond@politico.com or tweet him @ddiamond.