Conversations on Health: How We Get There - with Stephani Shelton

Have you ever been hit by a huge medical bill when you thought your health insurance would be covering most of it? Do you know that unpaid medical bills are one of the top reasons Americans declare personal bankruptcy? Well, meet Frank Lobb. He’s a retired navy pilot whose later managerial background in law and compliance had nothing to do with health care. But some years ago Lobb had a very frustrating and ultimately tragic fight ...

UPDATE: The Trump administration has decided Medicare will NOT pay for the popular GLP-1 drugs just for weight loss. It would have cost the government nearly $40 Billion over 10 years.

Perhaps the hottest, most divisive topic in health care is obesity. Which in the US appears to have stabilized in 2024 at about 40% of adults. Is obesity a disease or a lifestyle result? How does it affect overall health and what diseases can it caus...

Is women’s health moving backward?  

The Supreme Court’s Dobbs Decision in 2022 overturned what most women believed was settled law – the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision - establishing a constitutional right to abortion. Since Dobbs, many states - especially in the South and Midwest - have banned abortions for any reason or tightly restricted them.  Leaving many women in medically dangerous conditions. Even before Dobbs – the Un...

Late word from CMS – Medicare will keep covering telehealth use through March. Congress must OK a further extension.

Lots of us became well-acquainted with telemedicine during the pandemic. And while many of us have gone back to office appointments with our doctors – telemedicine remains useful. Especially for mental health issues. How useful? Well – recently I logged onto a fascinating Health Affairs Journal webinar on telemedicin...

 Open enrollment for Medicare supplement plans, which continues until December 7, runs somewhat concurrently with the annual sign up period for the Affordable Care Act plans - commonly called Obamacare. The plans became available on state marketplaces on November 1 and the window closes on December 15 for coverage beginning January 1. We explained the major Medicare changes for 2025 in Episode 26 - check it out if you or someone in...

Once again it’s open enrollment time for Medicare plans - which runs for just 6 weeks each year - from October 15 until December 7th. Millions more Americans who don’t get health insurance through their jobs or Medicaid can find or change so-called Obamacare insurance plans from November 1st through January 15th of next year. 

In this episode we’re concentrating on the biggest changes to Medicare for 2025, including qualifications ...

Health experts in many countries – including the United States – are looking beyond standard health care and medical treatments to some kind of community-based care.  Both as a way to improve people’s general health - and as a way to cut the spiraling costs of medical procedures and new drugs.

The Netherlands appears to be well ahead of most countries with its varied efforts to re-invent what is generally called “social care” - sta...

Do you know someone – perhaps in your own family – who has spent time in a rehabilitation facility? Maybe after an illness or operation? Lots of people – and particularly older people who live alone – find themselves in rehab or long term care facilities. These are somewhat different from the assisted living or independent care communities we talked about in Episode 10 - when we explored one family’s exhaustive effort to find a pla...

We’re spending some time this summer revisiting the UK’s National Health Service. It’s celebrating its 76th birthday this month – although I doubt anyone would use that exact word. Actually, right after the Labor Party swept the UK parliamentary elections on July 4th – both the new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his new Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said flat out that the NHS is broken. Both promised to save i...

As the US Surgeon General calls for a social media warning label similar to the one on cigarettes and alcohol, we focus on child and teenage mental health in this somewhat longer than usual episode. And about halfway through – we get into a really good discussion on that really big issue: the role of social media in the growing problems of Gen Z and the youngest children – Gen Alpha.

We’re talking about all this with a child psychi...

How many times have we all asked – when will they find a cure for cancer? Of course there is no one cure any more than there is just one type of cancer. Each one requires its own research pathway. But there have been great strides in recent years. Some cancers which used to be a death sentence can now be basically cured or turned into treatable, chronic illnesses.

My guest for this episode is Theodore Lawrence, MD, PhD. He’s a Prof...

This may surprise you with all the medical advances we’ve made in the last decade --but heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the US. As it has been since 1921. A recent poll conducted for the American Heart Association found 51 percent of respondents had no idea! According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  – one person dies every 33 seconds in the US from cardiovascular disease. And this may also sur...

Part 2:  I think we all learned a lot in Episode 18 about Sweden's pioneering universal health care system. Most countries except for the U-S have some version of this – health care that’s paid for by taxes, controlled by the government and essentially free at the point of use. But health care costs are skyrocketing everywhere. So now we're going to talk about how AI and other data-driven innovations may help Sweden - and health ca...

Part 1:  Most of us are familiar with the idea of universal health care. Ideally – tax-paid, “free” health care for all. We know that in the US we don’t have it – while almost all other countries do – in some form. One of the first countries to adopt universal health care was Sweden – in the early 1950s. But how - exactly - does such a system work? And can it keep afloat as health costs keep rising?  I ask Catharina Barkman who hea...

I’m sure you’ve heard or read that Americans have better access to the newer, often life-saving drugs than people in other countries. But access and being able to pay for the drugs are two different matters. As anyone knows who has been to a pharmacist window lately – these great new drugs are really expensive. And in the United States – unlike other countries - they're often not covered or poorly covered by insurance. Sadly in thi...

Part 2: Open enrollment for 2024 Medicare supplementary plans continues into December - while those under 65 who don’t have employer health insurance can look for Obamacare plans on state marketplaces until mid January. In Episode 14 we talked mainly about how those Obamacare plans work. Now we’re focusing more on Medicare. More on the difference between Medicare Advantage and purely supplementary plans. And toward the end – we do ...

Starting in mid October and ending January 15th, millions of eligible Americans who don’t get health insurance through their jobs or Medicaid can use what is known as the Open Enrollment Period to sign up for or change various insurance plans.  Medicare recipients – mostly 65 or older - have 6 weeks ending on December 7th this year to choose supplemental insurance or Advantage plans.  And those who have or want what most of us call...

Talking about health care systems doesn’t have much meaning unless you know how they actually affect people. My friend Gina Mžourek is an American from New Jersey. She currently lives in Germany with her Czech husband.  But over the past 24 years she’s also lived in the Czech Republic, France and of course – the US.  Gina has a chronic illness so she’s very good at comparing the health care systems. They’re all state run except of ...