Health & Veritas

Mary-Ann Etiebet, president and CEO of Vital Strategies focused on prevention and health equity. She discusses scaling policy tools like health taxes, strengthening public-health systems and civil registration, and tackling rising noncommunicable diseases globally. Short, direct conversations about implementation, countering industry pushback, and using data and AI for measurement and vital statistics.

Jonathan Cohn, senior national correspondent and health policy writer known for Sick, discusses America’s struggle with universal healthcare and how access differs from insurance. He tackles the MAHA food agenda and shifts in dietary guidance. The conversation also covers data privacy controversies around medical records and recent trends in opioid deaths.

Sara Rosenbaum, health law and policy expert and Professor Emerita who shaped Medicaid and children’s coverage. She recounts incremental reforms that expanded access. She warns about work reporting rules and their risks. She discusses how community health centers and provider funding interact with Medicaid.

In this bonus episode, Howie and Harlan are joined by Ania Jastreboff, a Yale School of Medicine endocrinologist and an expert on the science of obesity. They discuss her new book, co-authored with Oprah Winfrey, which reframes obesity as a treatable disease rooted in biology—not a failure of willpower. Show notes: Ania Jastreboff and Oprah Winfrey: Enough: Your Health, Your Weight, and What It's Like To Be Free Yale Obesity Research Center (Y-Weight) The Oprah Podcast: "Oprah and Yale Researcher Break Down How Weight Loss Drugs Affect the Brain" The Oprah Podcast: "Oprah and Dr. Ania Jastreboff on How People Treat You Differently After Weight Loss" Ania Jastreboff: "Tirzepatide for Obesity Treatment and Diabetes Prevention" Ania Jastreboff: "Once-Monthly Maridebart Cafraglutide for the Treatment of Obesity — A Phase 2 Trial" Mayo Clinic: Semaglutide (oral route) Eli Lilly: What to know about orforglipron: An investigational oral GLP-1 "CagriSema for Weight Loss: Study Results, Availability, and How Other GLP-1s Compare" Eli Lilly: What to know about eloralintide: An investigational amylin receptor agonist injection Cleveland Clinic: "Should You Microdose GLP-1 Drugs?" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Julie Rovner, KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent with decades covering the ACA and federal health agencies. She walks through the odds and political pressure points around ACA subsidies. She discusses Medicaid changes, why price regulation matters, and how government communication with journalists has shifted. She closes with personal anecdotes and a preview of an intense healthcare showdown ahead.

Ezekiel Emanuel, physician, oncologist, bioethicist and author of Eat Your Ice Cream, shares evidence-based pushback on the wellness industry. He discusses why social connection and movement matter, his defense of full-fat dairy and ice cream, what fitness metrics he trusts, yoga for balance, and his views on alcohol and public health communication.

End‑of‑year reflections on medicine and physician roles spark candid stories about clinical care and loss. Rising gun violence and measles outbreaks are discussed as urgent public health concerns. A severe flu surge and COVID vaccine guidance are covered. The conversation highlights research-backed benefits of yoga for pain, mood, cognition, and resilience.

Basmah Safdar, an emergency physician and Yale director studying sex-specific cardiovascular and microvascular differences. She recounts her journey from Pakistan to Yale. Talks cover why chest pain and small-vessel ischemia often present differently in women. She links microvascular disease to brain symptoms, PCOS, migraines, and long COVID. Discusses diagnostics, research history, and building a women’s health research program.

Sudhakar Nuti, a street-medicine physician and population-health leader at NYC Health + Hospitals, shares his work bringing care directly to people experiencing homelessness. He discusses mobile clinics, trust-building through basic needs like food and hygiene kits, challenges of housing transitions, team resilience after patient loss, and training future clinicians to bridge privilege and empathy.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert and an outspoken opponent of health misinformation, to discuss vaccine skepticism and the forces—from wellness influencers to HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—that amplify it. Harlan reports on research reinforcing the link between social media and mental illness; Howie highlights two potential areas of common ground with the administration's health policy. Show notes: Social Media and Mental Health "Social Media Detox and Youth Mental Health" "Study Finds Mental Health Benefit to One-Week Social Media Break" Peter Hotez Peter Hotez: Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces That Threaten Our World Peter Hotez: Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism: My Journey as a Vaccine Scientist, Pediatrician, and Autism Dad "Scientist pressured by Musk and Rogan to debate RFK Jr over anti-vaccine misinformation says he won't be part of 'Jerry Springer' show" Peter Hotez on X "Kennedy Says He Told C.D.C. to Change Website's Language on Autism and Vaccines" "Wakefield's article linking MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent" "Four vaccine myths and where they came from" "Large-Scale Exome Sequencing Study Implicates Both Developmental and Functional Changes in the Neurobiology of Autism" "Risk of Autism after Prenatal Topiramate, Valproate, or Lamotrigine Exposure" "Data investigation: Childhood vaccination rates are backsliding across the U.S." "South Carolina's Measles Outbreak Shows Chilling Effect of Vaccine Misinformation" "How a measles outbreak overwhelmed a small West Texas town" "How polio came back to New York for the first time in decades, silently spread and left a patient paralyzed" "Third infant in Kentucky dies of whooping cough as national cases stay high for second year in a row" "Kennedy minimizes measles outbreak in wake of Texas death" "RFK Jr. claims 'leaky' measles vaccine wanes over time. Scientists say he's wrong." "RFK Jr. claims measles can be treated with vitamin A, linked to poor diet. Here's what science says" "The Surprise Ending to the Trump-Mamdani Buddy Movie Has Heads Spinning" "Operation Warp Speed was one of Trump's biggest achievements. Then came RFK Jr. and vaccine skeptics" Health & Veritas Episode 196: The Cost Curve, Flu, and Other News "Weaponized Health Communication: Twitter Bots and Russian Trolls Amplify the Vaccine Debate" ACA Subsidies "Trump was going to roll out a health care plan. Then Republicans weighed in." "Trump Is Considering a Push to Extend Obamacare Subsidies" Site-Neutral Payment "The Trump Administration Moves Forward with Medicare Site-Neutral Payment Reform" "Five Things to Know About Medicare Site-Neutral Payment Reforms" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.