The Pursuit of Health: a podcast on health policy for a free and modern society. | Podcast on RSS.com

The Pursuit of Health: a podcast on health policy for a free and modern society.

The Pursuit of Health: a podcast on health policy for a free and modern society.

by Center for Modern Health

Medicine Philosophy

Season 2

The Right to Try 2.0, with Kendra Riley

The first federal Right to Try legislation was passed in 2018, giving patients with terminal illnesses the right to try investigational drugs without having to wait for lengthy FDA approval over the drug's efficacy. The second Right to Try legislation being proposed fills an important gap, the right to individualized treatment that can't be tested on large groups of people. In this episode, I interview Kendra Riley on her own fight for her family and this important legislation. Check out Kendra's story at Right to Try. Check out the Goldwater Institute's work on Right to Try. Enjoyed this episode? Then don't forget to like, share, and subscribe to our show. To support our show, and the Center for Modern Health, you can make a tax deductible donation here.

Disentangling drug prices, with Tina Marsh Dalton

Americans are fed up with how they pay for prescription drugs. It's overly complex and opaque. In this episode, Tina Marsh Dalton explains how the complexity of prescription drug pricing is primarily driven by having them covered with health insurance, and challenges us to consider a radical solution: de-insuring most prescription drugs so that consumers can shop for them. Check out Tina Marsh Dalton's substack series on disentangling drug prices here. Enjoyed this episode? Then don't forget to like, share, and subscribe to our show. To support our show, and the Center for Modern Health, you can make a tax deductible donation here.

Cross-Subsidies: Hospitals shield against reform

Hospitals often use profitable services, like orthopedics, to prop-up unprofitable services, like emergency care. In this episode, Jared Rhoads explains how such cross-subsidization not only distorts healthcare prices, but also why we should challenge hospitals' use of cross-subsidization as a justification to prevent much needed market reforms in healthcare. Check out Jared Rhoads' article on hospital cross-subsidization here. Enjoyed this episode? Then don't forget to like, share, and subscribe to our show. To support our show, and the Center for Modern Health, you can make a tax deductible donation here.

Physician independence: from whom, and for what?

The independence of physicians to practice medicine as they see fit has been eroded over the decades, with the collapse of independent practices and the growth of medical bureaucracy. What will it take to reclaim physician independence? In this episode, we argue that what it will take is to reclaim the very meaning of physician independence, not as an independence from market forces and business, but as an independence gained and earned through them. Enjoyed this episode? Then don't forget to like, share, and subscribe to our show. To support our show, and the Center for Modern Health, you can make a tax deductible donation here.

No network insurance, with Emily Kolego (Sidecar Health)

Traditional insurers use provider 'networks' to negotiate lower prices for their policyholders, but they also limit choice and hide prices from patients. What if there is no-network? In this episode, Emily Kolego from Sidecar Health explains how her organization has expanded the idea of no-network health insurance, and how it liberates patients to shop for their own healthcare. We discuss the challenges and promises of no-network plans disrupting the health benefits market. Please like, share, and subscribe to our show. To support our show, and the Center for Modern Health, you can make a tax deductible donation here.

Illuminating the PBM maze, with Jessica Dobrinsky

Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) are blamed for making prescription drugs more expensive for profit. Yet, PBMs play a necessary role in navigating a complex third-party payer system. In this episode, Jessica Dobrinsky argues that adding more regulations onto PBMs will simply contribute to the complexity and inflexibility that has distorted the drug benefit market to begin with. Instead, we should be looking to increase the freedom to contract to better serve patients. Check out two of Jessica's Dobrinsky's articles on PBMs on her Substack here and here. Please like, share, and subscribe to our show. To support our show, and the Center for Modern Health, you can make a tax deductible donation here.

Corporate practice of medicine laws disarm independent doctors

Corporate Practice of Medicine (CPOM) laws were intended to protect physicians from corporate control. But in practice, CPOM laws disarm physicians against corporations, including private equity backed takeovers. In this episode, we argue that doctors should embrace business, not insulate themselves from it, if they want to regain their professional autonomy. Please like, share, and subscribe to our show. To support our show, and the Center for Modern Health, you can make a tax deductible donation here.

The Right to Healthcare That We do Have, by Jared Rhoads

Advocates for free-markets often argue that healthcare is not a right, not if defined as the right to someone else's labor. While not disputing this basic point, Jared Rhoads in this audio-article reframes the case for free-markets in terms of the right that we do have in healthcare, namely, the right to freely pursue our own health with those who can provide it to us in voluntary trade. This reframing clarifies how our current healthcare system violates this right, and motivates free-market policy advocacy as furthering such a right as a moral and practical imperative. You can read Jared Rhoads' article here. Please like, share, and subscribe to our show. To support our show, and the Center for Modern Health, you can make a tax deductible donation here.

Physician-owned hospitals: subsidy-seekers or market disruptors?

Section 6001 of the Affordable Care Act prohibits Physician-Owned Hospitals from receiving Medicare dollars for providing care to Medicare patients. Should we repeal Section 6001 to introduce more freedom in the healthcare system and competition against corporate-owned hospitals? Or should we maintain the ban if it saves taxpayer's money? This is a false alternative, and in this episode discuss what a proper free-market response should look like. Please like, share, and subscribe to our show. To support our show, and the Center for Modern Health, you can make a tax deductible donation here.

Fixing the FDA: a two-track plan to end regulatory chaos

Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad tried to reform the FDA, increasing standards for some drugs while fast tracking others. Now they are out. Was it impossible to both protect patients from low-value drugs and give quicker access to those who want to use drugs of disputed value? Jared Rhoads proposes a reform to the FDA that can resolve these conflicts, by separating the right the bring a drug to market from the ability to sell a drug to a government program. Here is Jared Rhoads' article on 'Bringing a drug to market versus approving a drug for a program: a proposal'. To support our show, and the Center for Modern Health, you can make a tax deductible donation here.

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