The Healthcare Policy Podcast ® Produced by David Introcaso

Tufts Professor William Masters Discusses Food Affordability and Food Production Stability in the Age of Climate Denial

May 12, 2026

To state the obvious nutrition is considered the cornerstone of public health, a, if not the, primary preventative measure against chronic disease. Nevertheless, the OBBBA cut SNAP funding by an estimated $187 billion; since the start of the pandemic food prices have increased by roughly 30%; and, going forward are at risk due to uncertain trade policy, global shocks including the ongoing war in Iran, water supply/access and widespread drought and other climate-related issues include the loo...

Mr. Robert Andrews Discusses Self-Insured Employer Health Plan Efforts to Address Healthcare Affordability

May 07, 2026

Not surprisingly healthcare affordability has risen to the top or #1 mid-term election campaign issue. Largely due to pricing failure, that costs Americans about $250 billion annually, pricing power is the consequence of an increasingly concentrated healthcare market. Think: Herfindahl-Hirschman Index scores. Hospital pricing/prices are particularly noteworthy or moreover surgical procedures and patented drugs that have risen at multiples of the annual inflation. This means those insured ...

Mike Meno Discusses the Recently-Introduced Senate "Stop Climate Shakedowns Act"

April 30, 2026

Per my May 2025 interview with Stanford’s Chris Callahan regarding his April 2025 “Nature” article titled, “Carbon Majors and the Scientific Case for Climate Liability,” we know that among the 90 companies responsible for 63% of industrial GHG emissions over the past 200 years, 83 are fossil fuel companies.Two weeks ago Senator Cruz (R-TX) and four other Republican senators dropped their “Stop Climate Shakedown’s Act.” In part the legislation would prohibit retroactive liability, mandate dis...