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“Both as patients and as caregivers,
we need to be really aware of what’s going on
and we need to do something every time
we see or experience discrimination.”
– Dr. Barbara Berney
The Lasting Impact
of Racism in Medicine
Featuring Barbara Berney, PhD, MPH
Producer, Power to Heal: Medicare and
the Civil Rights Revolution
Find us on Apple podcasts, our website or your favorite podcast platform.
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Breaking News in Healthcare Reform
“When an at-risk sleep apnea patient needed his breathing machine replaced, Lincare, a $2.4 billion behemoth with a decades long history of regulatory and legal problems, acted slowly. The result was disastrous.”
What a Wrongful Death Lawsuit Reveals About America’s Largest Oxygen Provider
ProPublica | Peter Elkind | March 10, 2025
“Ultimately … all of this gutting of the agency’s customer service staffing is going to have, I think, very widespread consequences for all 72 million people receiving Social Security….”
How Social Security Cuts Could Put Millions of Older Americans at Risk
PBS News | Laura Barrón-López, Ian Couzens | March 6, 2025
“Health care is so expensive that 31 million U.S. adults, or 12%, had to borrow a total of $74 billion last year to obtain medical care, new data shows. That includes people with health insurance….”
Americans Borrowed $74 Billion Last Year to Cover Their Health Care Costs
CBS News | Megan Cerullo | March 6, 2025
“…many of the contracts were crucial to the safe operation of VA facilities. Including them on the list suggested that DOGE had done little analysis of the contracts’ functions, four current employees told NBC News.”
DOGE Plans to Cut VA Contracts May Harm Veterans’ Care, Employees Say
NBC News | Gretchen Morgenson, Laura Strickler | March 6, 2025
“Some 15% of those working at the federal Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, or CCIIO, were fired two weeks ago … the retrenchment is threatening work at an agency already laboring to run an overstretched system for resolving sometimes very large bills from out-of-network medical providers.”
Trump Vowed to End Surprise Medical Bills — The Office Working On That Just Got Slashed
Fierce Healthcare | Noam N. Levey, KFF Health News | March 5, 2025
“68 million older adults and people with disabilities rely on Medicare for health coverage. But for over 12 million of them, Medicaid is essential to fill coverage gaps and make Medicare affordable.”
A Cut to Medicaid is a Cut to Medicare
Medicare Rights Center | March 5, 2025
“If Congress cuts Medicaid funding to states to help extend tax cuts, dental care for adults could be one of the first casualties as legislators and governors re-sort priorities and try to make do with less.”
Medicaid Cuts Put Adult Dental Care on the Chopping Block
Axios | Maya Goldman | March 5, 2025
“Over 60% of Medi-Cal’s $161 billion budget comes from Washington.”
To Patients, Parents, and Caregivers, Proposed Medicaid Cuts Are a Personal Affront
KFF | Bernard J. Wolfson | March 6, 2025
“… skipping public comment could make it easier for HHS to require Medicaid recipients to work in order to receive benefits, CBS reported.”
RFK Jr. Move to Kill Public Comment Roils Providers
Axios | Maya Goldman | March 3, 2025
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Shining a light on ongoing inequities in health care
and the impact they have on vulnerable individuals and communities.
Our podcast Code WACK! brings to life the failures of America’s healthcare system with stories, commentary and analysis.
Our Weekly News Roundup shares news and views about health policy, health equity and healthcare reform (from non-paywalled news sources)
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