Health & Veritas: Yale's Healthcare and Health Policy Podcast

Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale School of Medicine sleep specialist Christine Won to discuss what makes for a good night's sleep and why sleep trackers and supplements may do more harm than good. Amid renewed discussion of "Medicare for All," Howie explains why Medicare falls short of universal coverage for current beneficiaries and proposes reforms; Harlan examines common misconceptions about longevity and what it takes to live a longer, healthier life. Show notes: The Cost of Being on Medicare Medicare.gov: 2026 Medicare costs (PDF) Library of Congress: "Finding Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) Payment System Rules: Schedules and Resources" Library of Congress: "Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Benefit" Medicare.gov: "Get Medigap Basics" "MedPAC Findings Versus The Insurance Industry: Is MA Paid More Than Traditional Medicare?" MedPAC: "The Medicare Advantage program: Status report" Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees: "A Summary of the 2026 Annual Reports" Better Sleep "Tired of not sleeping? These tips might help you rest better" Emmanuel Mignot, MD, PhD Meir Kryger, MD, FRCPC "What Is a Siesta?" Circadian Rhythm: What It Is, How It Works & What Affects It "Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function" Melatonin: What It Is, What It Does & How It Works Short Sleeper Syndrome: What It Is, Symptoms & Treatment "Long Sleepers" Andrew Krystal, MD Sleep apnea—Symptoms and causes Christine Won: "Sex differences in obstructive sleep apnea phenotypes, the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis" Hypersomnia: What It Is, Causes, Symptoms & Treatment Christine Won: "Sleep in Women Across the Life Span" "Cannabis for Sleep" "Recent and Cumulative Cannabis Use and Sleep in Middle-Aged Adults" "Tirzepatide for the Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Obesity" "Mitochondrial origins of the pressure to sleep" Longevity Misconceptions "6 Things Longevity Experts Wish People Would Stop Saying" "Heritability of intrinsic human life span is about 50% when confounding factors are addressed" "Association of Later-Life Weight Changes With Survival to Ages 90, 95, and 100: The Women's Health Initiative" 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.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale School of Public Health senior fellow Ashwin Vasan to discuss the ambitious agenda he pursued as New York City health commissioner: helping New Yorkers live longer, transforming mental healthcare, and rethinking what government can do to make people healthier. Howie examines the blood clots suffered by Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and the questions they raise about player safety; Harlan discusses the financial pressures that put healthcare out of reach for many Americans. Show notes: Blood Clots and the NFL "NFL Network: Eagles QB Jalen Hurts likely out for rest of 2026 season due to blood clots" Pulmonary embolism: symptoms and causes "Venous Thromboembolism Within Professional American Sport Leagues" CDC: Data and Statistics on Venous Thromboembolism "No apparent association between mRNA COVID-19 vaccination and venous thromboembolism" "NFL commissioner says protocols were 'incredibly good' and welcomes investigation after Jalen Hurts injury" Ashwin Vasan "Mayor Mamdani Appoints Dr. Dave A. Chokshi to the NYC Board of Health" Omicron Variant: Symptoms and Treatment Legionnaires' disease: symptoms and causes Ashwin Vasan: "Balancing Personal Choice and Societal Factors in Health" Peptides: Types, Health Benefits, and Uses NYC Health: Healthy New York City: Goals for 2030 What Is Cardiovascular Disease? NYC Health: Public Health Corps Mary Bassett Fountain House Man in the Mirror: Hope, Struggle, and Belonging in an American City "Who is Jordan Neely, the man killed in NYC subway chokehold death?" "Community Mental Health Act of 1963: Passage, Repeal, and Aftermath" Mountains Beyond Mountains "World Health Organization and UNAIDS unveil plan to get 3 million AIDS patients on treatment by 2005" Commonweal Ventures Financial Insecurity in America "Many Americans Are Struggling to Afford Basic Necessities" Pew Research Center: "Americans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on Impact" "ICER, West Health Release New Report Indicating that Median Prices of Newly Launched Drugs Continue to Exceed $250,000" "Social Security Trustees Report Warns of 22% Benefit Cut In 2032" 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.

Howie and Harlan discuss new research into the biological mechanisms behind long COVID and other post-infectious syndromes, how the FDA can ensure the safety of AI-powered medical tools, and why prior authorization can discourage necessary care even when treatments are ultimately approved. They also examine an early flu season, the changing calculus of COVID vaccination, and the continuing surge in measles cases.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale School of Medicine cardiologist Eric Velazquez to discuss how advances in treatment have transformed cardiovascular medicine and how technology could make care more accessible and equitable. Howie reports on a possible case of plague in Russia; Harlan reflects on how AI is changing the relationship between doctors and patients—and what that means for medical education. Show notes: Plague "Pneumonic plague: WHO says it wants more details from Russia in death of worker at research lab" "Dozens quarantined after researcher at Russian plague laboratory dies of 'unknown' infection" "U.S. Seeks Information From Russia on Possible Plague Death" "Rumors Are Swirling of a Plague Outbreak in Russia. Here's What We Know." "What to know about pneumonic plague "World Health Assembly adopts historic Pandemic Agreement to make the world more equitable and safer from future pandemics" CDC: International Health Regulations WHO: Biological weapons Eric Velazquez Yale School of Medicine: Cardiovascular Medicine Yale Cardiovascular Research Center (YCVRC) Center for Outcomes Research & Evaluation (CORE) Interventional Cardiology Myocardial Infarction (MI) Stent Statins Beta-Blockers Atrial fibrillation Structural Heart Disease Heartbeat Health "What Is an Ambulatory Center? How It Differs From a Hospital" Expertise and AI Harlan Krumholz: "Beyond Information Asymmetry in Medicine: The Changing Nature of Medical Authority and Expertise" "Why Do London Taxi Drivers Have Larger Hippocampuses?" 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.

Howie and Harlan are joined by journalist Gary Wolf, author of the new book The Quantified Self: Learning to Observe, and patient researcher Sara Riggare, who has spent years studying her own experience with Parkinson's disease to better understand and manage her health. They discuss how systematic self-observation can help people ask better questions and learn more about their own health. Howie examines Sweden's use of AI as a second reader of screening mammograms; Harlan asks whether AI will streamline healthcare billing or fuel an arms race between providers and insurers. Show notes: AI Radiologists "Health system will use AI instead of radiologists for breast imaging 2nd reads" "Lunit Expands AI-Powered Breast Cancer Screening Across the Stockholm Region" "Artificial intelligence for breast cancer detection in screening mammography in Sweden: a prospective, population-based, paired-reader, non-inferiority study" Joann G. Elmore, MD, MPH The Quantified Self Quantified Self: Self-Knowledge Through Numbers Gary Wolf: The Quantified Self: Learning to Observe Quantified Self: Personal Science Research Group "N-of-1 Trial Design: Single-Patient Crossover Methodology" What is Parkinson's? Sara Riggare: "The Red Dot and the Blue Dots: My ISDM 2026 Keynote" Sara Riggare: "Precision Medicine in Parkinson's Disease—Exploring Patient-Initiated Self-Tracking" Sara Riggare: "The Burden of Tracking" TED Talk by Gary Wolf: "The Quantified Self" Gary Wolf: "The Data-Driven Life" "What Is Biohacking and Is It Safe?" Gary Wolf: "A Conceptual Framework for Personal Science" AI Billing "What Is Revenue Cycle Management (RCM)?" "Agentic AI and the race to a touchless revenue cycle" "Analysis examines AI in hospital billing as spike in complex patients adds nearly $1 billion in extra costs" "Hospital Coding Intensity Analysis" 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.

Howie and Harlan are joined by pediatric cardiologist Emily Bucholz to discuss her work treating fetal heart abnormalities across a multistate region and the challenges of bringing specialized pediatric care to patients far from major medical centers. For Suicide Prevention Month, Howie examines evidence that restricting access to lethal means can prevent suicide; Harlan pays tribute to the late Yale political scientist Theodore Marmor and remembers a moment when Marmor's mentorship changed his professional path. Show notes: Preventing Suicide Suicide Prevention Month CDC: Leading Causes of Death "Declining gun homicides, record gun suicides in 2024" "Banning pesticides saves lives from suicide" Strong Star Training Initiative: Caring Contacts Emily Bucholz Children's Hospital Colorado:Fetal Cardiology Program "Fetal Cardiology: What is it? Why is it important?" Children's Hospital Association: About Children's Hospitals "Telemedicine: Definition, uses, benefits, and more" Children's Hospital Colorado "Differences Between Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, and Quaternary Care" CDC: About Congenital Heart Defects Mayo Clinic: Electrocardiogram Cleveland Clinic: Chambers of the Heart NIH: Medical Scientist Training Program Yale Center for Outcomes Research & Evaluation (CORE) "Ensuring Readiness for Practice: Advancing Competency-Based Subspecialty Training" The Children's Heart Foundation Remembering a Mentor Harlan Krumholz: "The Return on Mentorship" Yale School of Management: "Remembering Professor Emeritus Theodore Marmor, 1939–2026" 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.

Omar Lateef, physician and CEO of Rush University System for Health, discusses the tensions between hospital mission and margin. He explores health equity, community partnerships, research, innovation, and preparing leaders for healthcare’s complexity. The conversation also examines threats to international medical talent and proposed Medicare changes to remote patient monitoring.

Aakriti Gupta, an interventional and structural cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai, explores the minimally invasive revolution transforming heart valve care. She discusses TAVR versus open-heart surgery, a major trial for bicuspid valves, and persistent gender and racial disparities. The conversation also looks at AI-powered cardiology, decentralized care, and expanding access to underserved communities, alongside the challenges facing new cardiovascular drugs.

Howie and Harlan discuss health headlines including the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak; a recent FDA decision allowing pharmacies to compound certain peptides; and a concerning report from Medicare trustees on the program's financial future. They also dive into the health habits they're changing this year and a new feature from ChatGPT allowing users to connect medical records and health data to the platform. Watch a video edition of this episode. Show Notes: Healthy Habits Health & Veritas: Ezekiel Emanuel "What's Erythritol? And Is It Bad for You?" NIH: Aging and Alcohol "Low-plastic diet and urinary levels of plastic-associated phthalates and bisphenols: the randomized controlled PERTH Trial" Health & Veritas: Eric Topol Cyclosporiasis Outbreak CDC: Surveillance of Cyclosporiasis FDA: Investigation of 9-State Outbreak of Cyclospora Illnesses: Iceberg Lettuce (July 2026) "Cyclospora Outbreak Linked to Iceberg Lettuce in 9 States" National Foundation for Infectious Diseases: Norovirus FDA: Cyclospora CDC: Clinical Overview of Cyclosporiasis CDC: About FoodNet CDC: About PulseNet FDA: FSMA Final Rule on Requirements for Additional Traceability Records for Certain Foods Peptides and the FDA Health & Veritas: Trust, Truth, and Moral Distress "Peptides: What they are, potential benefits, and safety concerns" "FDA committee votes to make peptides more widely available" LinkedIn: Ezekiel Emanuel The Future of Medicare OASDI: Trustees Report Summary U.S. Department of the Treasury: Social Security and Medicare Trustees Reports H.R.1: An act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14. IRS: Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 ChatGPT Ventures into Health "Launching Health in ChatGPT" "OpenAI makes Health in ChatGPT widely available, moving deeper into consumer health" "ChatGPT Led to a Man's Near-Fatal Health Crisis, Lawsuit Claims" LinkedIn: David Rhew A Record Measles Season Health & Veritas: Measles Outbreaks, Preventative Cardiology, and Other News CDC: Measles Cases and Outbreaks "Measles Cases in the U.S. Are at a 35-Year High" "What ProPublica Found in the Genetic Code of America's Measles Outbreaks" Pan American Health Organization Senator Bill Cassidy 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.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Melanie Matheu, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Lyric Bio, who also shares evidence-based health and science information on TikTok as LaughterinLight PhD. They discuss developing new antibody therapies, building biotech companies, and communicating complex science to the public. Harlan warns that AI could drive up healthcare costs unless payment models change; Howie highlights encouraging declines in traffic deaths while noting the growing risks associated with e-bikes and e-scooters. Show notes: AI and Healthcare Costs "What Is Fee for Service in Healthcare and How It Works" "Payment for Clinical AI" "CMS floats new Medicare payment category for AI diagnostic software: 6 notes" Melanie Matheu LaughterinLight PhD on TikTok Lyric Bio Hyper-IgM (HIgM) Syndromes Polyclonal Antibodies (PAbs) Autoimmune Diseases Kawasaki disease NIH: R01 research grants Prellis Biologics Cyclosporiasis "FDA says false-positive lettuce test doesn't change Taylor Farms cyclospora probe" WHO: Ebola virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Dr. Zachary Rubin From Bench to Bedside podcast Zachary Rubin: All About Allergies: How to Live Well with Asthma, Food Allergies, Hay Fever and More Road Safety "The '100 Deadliest Days' Have Begun" WHO: "Road deaths fall by 21% globally but stronger action is needed to save lives" NHTSA: "Crash-Stats: Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities and Fatality Rate in 2025" Consumer Product Safety Commission: "Micromobility Products-Related Deaths Injuries and Hazard Patterns 2017-2024" 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.