Health:Further

Vic and Marcus cover Marcus’s recent keynote to community health centers, the industry’s struggle to break out of legacy regulatory thinking, and why AI is becoming essential as labor and funding decline. They analyze unreliable jobless-claim data, Powell’s rate-cut outlook, and how AI is reshaping the relationship between labor, productivity, and corporate earnings. They discuss CMS rolling back staffing mandates, vaccine-policy debates, the extension of hospital-at-home, and Humana’s move into employer drug-cost management. The episode highlights HIMSS & Hers expanding into diagnostics, the rising burden of caring for aging parents, Texas buying Bitcoin, Google challenging OpenAI, Anthropic’s Opus 4.5, and character.ai restricting teen companion bots.Links7:20 - Jobless Claims Fell to New Recent Low Per Labor Department WSJ11:31 - Fed Chair Powell’s Allies Provide Opening for December Rate Cut WSJ26:13 - HHS repeals staffing mandate for long-term care Healthcare Finance31:18 - FDA adopts agentic artificial intelligence in latest push to infuse AI into agency Fierce HealthcareARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) STRATEGY HHS FDA Official Pledges New Vaccine Standards WSJ33:05 - House votes to extend acute hospital care at home Healthcare Finance35:39 - Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drugs, Humana exploring partnership to tackle employer drug costs Fierce Healthcare38:38 - Hims & Hers expands into diagnostics, moves into Canada as it evolves DTC telehealth platform Fierce Healthcare39:48 - ‘We Had No Idea What Was Coming’: Caring for My Aging Father NYT-op46:19 - Texas Puts $10M Into Bitcoin as BTC Fights to Hold $78K Support Coin Paper47:19 - OpenAI Declares ‘Code Red’ as Google Threatens AI Lead WSJ50:35 - Anthropic introduces cheaper, more powerful, more efficient Opus 4.5 model ArsTechnica53:35 - Teens Are Saying Tearful Goodbyes to Their AI Companions WSJ

Vic and guest host Dr. Kam Matthews cover the week’s major healthcare, policy, and AI stories, including Medicaid funding threats, provider-network gaps, economic updates, new VC raises, and major clinical and pharma developments. They discuss wealth-tax proposals, insurer policy changes, hospital system financials, new maternal and SDOH AI tools, obesity-drug price cuts, and breakthroughs in cancer and antiviral treatments, closing with updates on AI market shifts, Nvidia’s earnings, and Google’s Gemini release.Links4:25 - Hiring Defied Expectations in September, With 119,000 New Jobs WSJ6:51 - WellBeam closes $10 Million Series A to Transform Clinical Interoperability and Care Coordination between Acute and Post-Acute Providers GlobeNewswire9:01 -FamilyWell Health Secures $8 M Series A Led by Maryland’s New Markets Venture Partners Amid National Expansion CityBiz10:22 - Thrivory Raises $3.5M in Equity Funding; Up To $25M in Credit Funding FinSMES11:36 - Function Health Hits $2.5B Valuation With $298M Series B MedCity14:40 - The California Campaign to Introduce a First-of-Its-Kind Billionaire’s Tax WSJ21:25 - When the G.O.P. Medicaid Cuts Arrive, These Hospitals Will Be Hit Hardest NYT23:38 - Jury orders Apple to pay Masimo $634M in patent fight Healthcare Dive25:31 - Humana, Epic collaborate to automate insurance verification, patient check-in Fierce Healthcare27:22 - Medical orgs press Anthem to pull back out-of-network care policy Fierce Healthcare29:41 - Aetna unveils new conversational AI navigation tool for members Fierce Healthcare31:48 - Medicaid Insurers Promise Lots of Doctors. Good Luck Seeing One. WSJ36:30 -Cigna to launch new transparent health plan called Clearity Fierce HealthHF SiteYOUTUBEINSTAGRAMTWITTERFACEBOOKLINKEDINTIKTOK

In this episode, Vic and Marcus break down the government’s temporary reopening, SNAP funding, and upcoming appropriations battles, then cover Fed uncertainty around rate cuts and a market selloff driven by shifting AI sentiment. They discuss massive layoffs at Verizon, medical-AI funding rounds, mental-health care innovation, and specialty-pharmacy expansion. The hosts analyze the FDA’s rollback of HRT warnings, UnitedHealth’s decision to stop covering most remote patient monitoring, and Cigna’s mental-health initiatives. They review provider and pharma earnings, including Pfizer’s acquisition of Metsera, AstraZeneca’s oncology growth, Moderna’s losses, and emerging cholesterol-lowering drugs. They dive deep into Lily’s evolving identity as a tech-driven pharma leader, advances in lab-grown organs, major crypto and stablecoin developments, China’s acceleration in robotics and AI despite chip restrictions, and the growing divide between AI power users and the rest of the workforce.Links2:28 - Government Reopens as Trump Signs Bill to End Nation’s Longest Shutdown NYT7:40 - The Fed Is Increasingly Torn Over a December Rate Cut WSJ8:33 - Stock Market Today: Nasdaq, Tech Shares Lead Broad Losses WSJ14:55 - Verizon to Cut About 15,000 Jobs WSJ16:13 - Evidium: $22 Million Series A Raised To Scale Computational Medical Knowledge Pulse 2.017:21 - Amae Health Raises $25M to Improve Care for Severe Mental Illness MedCity18:24 - House Rx Raises $55M to Scale In-Clinic Specialty Pharmacy Model HIT19:15 - FDA rolls back warning labels on HRT products for menopause, citing misinformation Fierce Healthcare21:11 - UnitedHealth to stop covering most remote patient monitoring Modern Healthcare27:50 -Cigna Launches Mental Health Collaboration with Headspace MedCity28:18 - Cigna teaming with Magic Johnson on music initiative Healthcare Finanice29:30 - Kaiser Permanente notches 0.7% operating margin, $2.6B net income in Q3 2025 Fierce Healthcare29:47 -HF SiteYOUTUBEINSTAGRAMTWITTERFACEBOOKLINKEDINTIKTOK

In this episode, hosts Marcus and Vic break down a packed week of headlines, starting with political shifts following recent elections and how emerging Democratic leaders could reshape the party. They discuss the economy’s resilience despite tariffs, inflated stock valuations, and rising layoffs attributed to AI. The conversation covers major venture capital moves in health tech, policy updates from Trump’s negotiations on weight-loss drugs to FDA scandals, and the ongoing battle between payers and providers in healthcare. They also unpack the surging GLP-1 drug market, Pfizer’s decline, the rise of AI in finance and crypto, OpenAI’s latest controversies, and the ethical dilemmas of voice cloning and AI-generated content. The episode closes on the dangers of deepfakes and why every family needs a code word for protection.Links3:09 - How the U.S. Economy Has Defied Doomsday Predictions on Tariffs WSJ4:08 - This Famous Method of Valuing Stocks Is Pointing Toward Some Rough Years Ahead WSJ6:15 - Challenger Report: 153,074 Job Cuts on Cost-Cutting & AI Challenger website8:11 - Tala Health Secures $100M to Scale AI-Native Healthcare Platform HIT9:30 - Redesign, Mayo Clinic back surgical triage startup Corvus Fierce Healthcare9:58 - Hippocratic AI lands $126M series C to expand patient-facing AI agents, fuel acquisition deals  Fierce Healthcare11:05 - SteelSky Ventures Leads Investment in myLaurel to Redefine Acute and Transitional Care at Home WV News12:00 - Boomerang Ventures Leads Oversubscribed $2M Seed Round Investment in SiteLabs to Transform Independent Pharmacies into Frontline Hubs for Preventive Care and Research WRAL13:13 - CoMind raises $60 million in Series A funding Healthcare Today13:59 - Sequoia Capital Leader Exits in VC Shake-Up WSJ14:58 -HF SiteYOUTUBEINSTAGRAMTWITTERFACEBOOKLINKEDINTIKTOK

Hosts Vic and Marcus unpack the looming SNAP cuts, the Fed’s rate drop and end of QT, rising AI-driven layoffs, and inflation’s ongoing hit to households. They contrast Wall Street highs with real-world strain, cover major moves in health tech, VC, and pharma, and analyze payer and provider earnings from CVS, Cigna, Centene, HCA, and others. The episode also hits policy shifts, U.S.–China relations, new biosimilar rules, and crypto’s mainstream rise through JPMorgan, Western Union, and Mastercard. They close with the AI infrastructure boom—OpenAI’s changes, Anthropic’s enterprise play, NVIDIA’s surge—and what kinds of healthcare work may actually endure.LinksLinks4:20 - Future Fed Rate Cuts ‘Far’ From Certain After Divided Meeting WSJ7:13 - Tens of Thousands of White-Collar Jobs Are Disappearing as AI Starts to Bite WSJ13:14 - Inflation Isn’t as Bad as Economists Thought, but Americans Still Hate It WSJ18:19 - The Good Vibes Are Back on Wall Street WSJ19:23 - OpenEvidence, the ChatGPT for doctors, raises $200M at $6B valuation  TechCrunch20:40 - Human Health Raises $8.5M to Expand Precision Health Platform with Plans to Deepen Women’s Health Focus FemTech21:26 - Curve Biosciences: $40 Million Raised To Advance Whole-Body Intelligence Platform for Chronic Disease Monitoring Pulse 2.023:15 - Cylerity increases credit line to $24M for health care finance FinTech24:42 - Honey Health CEO discusses the company's $7.8M funding round Mobi Health27:48 - Hyro raises $45M growth round to expand AI agents Fierce Healthcare28:41 - Arya Health lands $18.2M to expand post-acute platform Mobi Health30:08 - Trump Considers Fed Chair Selection by Year-End From Slate of Five Finalists WSJ31:49 - Trump and Xi Ease Off the Trade War, but New Nuclear Threat Brings a Chill NYT36:13 - Trump Hopes To Bully SCOTUS Into Upholding His Tariffs Reason38:43 - FDA, aiming to lower drug costs, moves to speed approval of biosimilars Healthcare Dive40:50 - UnitedHealth Revenue Rises as Turnaround Efforts Continue WSJ41:16 - CVS Posts Loss on Write-Down, Boosts Guidance WSJ41:40 - bCigna’s 2026 pharmacy profits could be dampened by transition to rebate-free model Healthcare Dive43:19 - Centene posts $6.6B loss on massive value writedown Healthcare Dive43:52 - HCA raises 2025 guidance, but eyes looming headwinds Healthcare Dive44:40 - Tenet pledges more money for high-acuity growth in 2025 Healthcare Dive45:13 - UHS raises revenue guidance for 2025 Healthcare Dive45:39 - CHS promises more hospital divestitures during Q3 earnings call Heathcare DiveHF SiteYOUTUBEINSTAGRAMTWITTERFACEBOOKLINKEDINTIKTOK

In this episode, Marcus and Vic discuss the nationwide Amazon cloud outage and its impact on tech infrastructure, the Trump administration’s decision to release aid to struggling U.S. farmers, and the latest U.S.–China trade tensions. They cover new sanctions on Russia, global energy shifts, and rising healthcare costs for employers. The hosts also break down major healthcare investments and acquisitions, including AI startups, GLP-1 innovations, and hospital mergers. They explore Mark Cuban’s partnership with Trump Rx, new developments in cancer detection and retinal implants, policy battles over non-competes, the rise of autonomous vehicles and flying cars, and breakthroughs in biotech and AI-powered medicine.Links00:42: - The Day Amazon Broke the Internet for Millions of Americans WSJ4:13 - Trump Administration to Release Farm Aid Frozen by Shutdown WSJ4:56 - Stocks Retreat as Trade Fears Resurface WSJ5:45 - U.S. Imposes Substantial New Sanctions on Russian Oil Giants WSJ8:48 - Ampa raises $8.5m to begin US neuromodulation system launch Medical Device Network10:04 - Hyro Snags $45M for Its Conversational AI Agents MedCity10:53 - Andel grabs $4.5M to help employers close the GLP‑1 coverage gap Tech Funding News11:39 - Knownwell Secures $25M to Expand Obesity Medicine MedCity12:17 - R1 acquires Phare Health, boosting AI abilities Modern Healthcare13:20 - Cigna, CVS join TrumpRx in offering discounted infertility medications Healthcare Finance13:58 - Mark Cuban says Cost Plus Drugs will partner with TrumpRx Healthcare Dive17:31 - The Average Cost of a Family Health Insurance Plan Is Now $27,000 WSJ20:06 - Hospital lobby again petitions FTC to exclude doctors, hospital execs from noncompete enforcement Fierce Healthcare22:09 - Minnesota attorney general investigating Aspirus Health over claims of unlawful noncompetes Fierce Healthcare25:58 - Optum unveils new AI-powered claims processing platform Fierce Healthcare29:23 - Molina slashes 2025 profit guidance again on ACA woes Healthcare Dive30:08 - Elevance outperforms in third quarter but warns of Medicaid challenges Healthcare Dive31:36 - Samaritan Health Services to join MultiCare Health System Fierce Healthcare32:25 - Novo Nordisk to Shake Up Board After Obesity-Market Challenges WSJ33:44 - Grail says new data on multi-cancer screening test show improved performance Stat36:08 - Vision Restored Using Prosthetic Retinal Implant NYT37:56 - A Mother and Son Share an Autism Diagnosis. Their Worlds Couldn’t Be More Different. WSJ41:02 - Coinbase Strikes Deal for Crypto-Investing PlatfoHF SiteYOUTUBEINSTAGRAMTWITTERFACEBOOKLINKEDINTIKTOK

Marcus and Vic unpack a turbulent week of global and economic shifts — from the Israel-Palestine ceasefire and U.S. government shutdown to rising layoffs, job stagnation, and Wall Street’s growing fixation on AI. They dive into China’s rare earth dominance, Trump’s trade maneuvers, and the growing tension between free markets and government control. In healthcare, they cover California’s crackdown on PBMs and private equity, telehealth funding freezes, labor strikes, and AI-driven innovations from Google and Microsoft. The hosts close with major biotech deals, the crypto market’s resilience, and an existential look at AI’s power, risk, and global race for dominance.Links2:25 - The Unofficial Jobs Numbers Are In and It’s Rough Out There WSJ5:08 - Strong Bank Earnings Push S&P 500 Higher WSJ6:42 - China, Betting It Can Win a Trade War, Is Playing Hardball With Trump WSJ10:46 - China’s Rare Earth Restrictions Aim to Beat U.S. at Its Own Game NYT12:11 - The Small Company in Europe Caught in the Big Trade War Between the U.S. and China NYT19:15 - Powell Keeps Fed on Track to Lower Rates Again WSJ23:24 - Seattle startup Brook.ai raises $28M to expand remote care platform GeekWire25:45 - OutcomesAI raises $10m seed funding for AI nursing model Hospital Mgmt28:34 - WellTheory Raises $14M to Expand Autoimmune Care Platform MedCity29:29 - Vega Health launches out of stealth to help health systems purchase, monitor AI Fierce Healthcare30:17 - ŌURA Snags $900M to Expand Smart Ring Globally MedCity31:42 - California passes laws targeting PBMs, private equity Healthcare Dive33:52 - AstraZeneca Strikes Drug-Pricing Deal With Trump Administration WSJ35:32 - Medicare telehealth, hospital-at-home payments on hold Modern Healthcare39:05 - Big Changes Are Coming for 2026 Medicare Plans. What You Need to Know. WSJ40:57 - 31,000 Kaiser Permanente workers begin strike in Northern California, Hawaii Healthcare Dive42:55 - To Find Workers, Hospitals Are Training Teenagers WSJ45:07 - Hims & Hers to Offer Treatments for Menopause, Perimenopause WSJ45:31 - Jefferson Health laying off roughly 650 employees amid 'significant financial headwinds' Fierce Healthcare47:18 - Novo Nordisk to Acquire Akero Therapeutics for Up to $5.2 Billion WSJ48:06 - Johnson & Johnson to Split Off Orthopedics Business WSJ49:55 -HF SiteYOUTUBEINSTAGRAMTWITTERFACEBOOKLINKEDINTIKTOK

Vic and Marcus break down the latest in AI and markets—from agentic tools reshaping work and Nvidia’s data-center dominance to the real threat of job loss across creative industries. They hit gold’s surge past $4,000, global market shifts, and China’s trade pivots, then move into healthcare: UnitedHealthcare vs. Johns Hopkins, new startup funding, Trump-era policy moves, and the rising wave of home diagnostics. The episode closes with the AI arms race, Microsoft, OpenAI, AMD, and Elon’s data-center push, asking if compute is the new oil.Links14:30 - Gold Prices Top $4,000 for First Time WSJ22:07 - America’s Soybean Farmers Are Panicking Over the Loss of Chinese Buyers WSJ25:13 - A Tech Rebound Lifts U.S. Stocks, and the March to Record Highs Resumes WSJ27:12 - DUOS snags $130M equity investment to scale AI benefits platform for seniors Fierce Healthcare28:02 - Truepill co-founder's latest startup, Foundation Health, banks $20M to bring AI to pharmacy operations Fierce Healthcare30:13 - Oath Surgical raises $24m to advance outpatient surgical care network Medical Device Network31:09 - Attuned Intelligence Emerges from Stealth with $13M to Automate Hospital Call Centers with Supervised AI HIT31:37 - Heidi Health raises $65M to expand global reach of its AI medical scribe platform Mobi health32:44 - Remedy Robotics Debuts Pioneering Endovascular Surgical Robotic System and Completes World's First Fully Remote Neurointerventional Procedures Newswire33:56 - Q3 2025 market overview: Signals out of sync Rock Health38:17 - Qualtrics to buy Press Ganey Forsta for $6.75B to expand its reach in healthcare Fierce Healthcare41:44 - Trump Wants to Overhaul Drug Sales. A Company Tied to His Son Stands to Benefit. WSJ44:35 - HF SiteYOUTUBEINSTAGRAMTWITTERFACEBOOKLINKEDINTIKTOK

Marcus and Vic break down the U.S. government shutdown, its political fallout, and how shifting power in Washington could reshape healthcare and the economy. They celebrate Nashville SC’s first major championship, examine the credit market’s warning signs, and analyze the growing divide between workforce readiness and AI acceleration. The hosts also discuss major healthcare investments, policy moves like “Trump RX,” and the record-breaking valuation of OpenAI amid rising ethical concerns about AI-generated content.Links8:45 - Government Shutdown Begins as Funding Lapses WSJ12:06 -These 6 Charts Explain Why Democrats Shut Down the Government NYT-Op16:40 - The Credit Market Is Humming—and That Has Wall Street On Edge WSJ19:01 - In a Sea of Tech Talent, Companies Can’t Find the Workers They Want WSJ21:19 - The Jobs Report That Wasn’t Leaves Economists Guessing NYT24:27 - Folia Health Secures $10.5M Series A to Scale Patient-Driven RWE Platform HIT25:15 - Visana Health Secures $24M for Women’s Health Clinic MedCity25:51 -  Midi Health Raises $50M Series C for Menopause Care Platform FemTech28:29 - BeSound Raises $6.8M to Expand Breast Cancer Screening for Dense Tissue FemTech28;59 - ICHRA Administrator SureCo Secures $23 Million in Funding Healthcare Innovation30:05 - Assort Health brings in $102M in 4 months to build out voice AI platform Fierce Healthcare31:05 - White House Unveils ‘TrumpRx’ Drug-Buying Site and a Pfizer Pricing Deal WSJ32:51 - Texas Stock Exchange Could Start Listing Shares Next Year WSJ35:32 - U.S. to Take Equity Stake in Lithium Americas and Its Nevada Mining Project WSJ38:50 - FDA Approves New Generic Version of the Abortion Pill Mifepristone WSJ40:57 -  Inside Nashville Healthcare Sessions 2025: Strategies shaping the future Modern Healthcare45:53 - CommonSpirit announces initiative to address mounting headwinds, lagging finances Healthcare Dive48:02 - Hospitals' administrative burden under 340B pilot far outstrips government's estimates, AHA says Fierce Healthcare49:38 - General Catalyst’s HATCo finalizes Summa Health acquisition Healthcare Dive52:33 - GoodRx stock climbs on potential TrumpRx partnership, expanded Kroger tie-up Fierce Healthcare55:34 - Cardinal Health to Build Indianapolis Pharma Plant to Supply Growing Distribution WSJ56:38 - Genmab to Buy Cancer-Treatment Developer Merus For $8 Billion in Cash WSJ57:39 - GSK CEO Emma Walmsley to Step Down WSJ58:26 - Recovery Is a Journey. Readers Share Their Advice After Blood Clots. WSJ59:51 -HF SiteYOUTUBEINSTAGRAMTWITTERFACEBOOKLINKEDINTIKTOK

In this episode, Marcus and Vic discuss Trump’s rejection of a meeting with Democrats as a government shutdown looms, small business optimism data, Fed comments on rates, a series of major venture capital deals in virtual care, neurology, oncology, PBMs, maternal health, and organ preservation, policy shifts around Tylenol and autism claims, the $100,000 H1B visa fee, the creation of an independent vaccine advisory agency, challenges for regional nonprofit insurers, Humana’s Medicare Advantage commission changes, Ascension’s return to profitability, Privia’s acquisition of Evolent’s primary care unit, Kaiser strike threats, new interoperability moves from Epic, big pharma acquisitions in obesity and liver treatments, Eli Lilly’s Texas expansion, Bitcoin treasury consolidation, the VA adopting AI note-taking tech, Unity AI’s scheduling agents, Nvidia’s $100B OpenAI investment, Citi’s AI agent pilot, a controversial social app selling voice data to AI firms, and PwC’s trillion-dollar healthcare report that highlights the innovation divideLinks2:08 - Trump Rejects Meeting With Democrats as Shutdown Approaches WSJ5:45 - Small Business Index -Hits All Time High US Chamber9:36 - Powell Describes Rates as ‘Modestly Restrictive,’ Keeping Door Open to Cuts WSJ10:22 - Sevaro Health Secures $39M for AI Powered Virtual Neurology & Workflow Augmentation HIT11:30 - Caregility Raises $25M in Funding FinSMES11:51 - Thyme Care lands $97M series D backed by CVS Health, Humana, Morgan Health and Memorial Hermann Fierce Healthcare14:00 - PBM Capital Rx rebrands as Judi Health, banks $400M funding round Modern Healthcare15:17 - Seven Starling Raises $8M to Expand Access to Maternal Mental Health Support MedCity16:46 - Until Labs Raises $58M to Pioneer Organ Cryopreservation and Medical Hibernation HIT18:50 - AmplifyMD Snags $20M to Help Hospitals Scale Virtual Specialty Care MedCity21:05 - Trump Issues Warning Based on Unproven Link Between Tylenol and Autism NYT24:29 - Trump’s $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee Sets Off Scramble Across Corporate America WSJ27:25 - The Doctors Building a Public-Health Universe Outside the Government WSJ31:50 - Regional nonprofit health insurers falling behind competitors Modern Healthcare32:44 - UnitedHealthcare unveils direct-to-consumer tool to shop for health and wellness programs Fierce Healthcare33:42 - Humana ending commissions for some Medicare Advantage plans Modern Healthcare36:10 - Ascension returned to profitability in 2025 Healthcare Dive37:33 - Privia acquires Evolent’s value-based primary care unit for $100M Healthcare Dive38:42 - More than 46,000 Kaiser Permanente workers have authorized strikes as contract expirations loom Fierce Healthcare40:12 - EpicHF SiteYOUTUBEINSTAGRAMTWITTERFACEBOOKLINKEDINTIKTOK