Health & Veritas

Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent for KFF Health News, joins Howie and Harlan to make sense of the fight over ACA subsidies and reflect on her decades of health policy reporting. Harlan reports on a new wave of breakthroughs in obesity treatment; Howie provides updates on the measles outbreak and a record-setting flu season. Show notes: Obesity treatments "Lilly's triple agonist, retatrutide, delivered weight loss of up to an average of 71.2 lbs along with substantial relief from osteoarthritis pain in first successful Phase 3 trial" "Arrowhead's gene-silencing drugs cut fat in early obesity studies" "Novo launches Wegovy weight-loss pill for sale in US" "Older Americans Quit Weight-Loss Drugs in Droves" Julie Rovner What the Health? podcast What the Health? podcast: "Time's Up for Expanded ACA Tax Credits" What the Health? podcast: "What Do Republicans Really Want on Health Care?" "Trump wants GOP's flexibility on Hyde Amendment" Congressional Research Service: The Hyde Amendment Healthcare.gov: Health Savings Accounts "Republicans unveil health care plan to counter Democratic effort to extend ACA subsidies" 119th Congress: H.R.1 KFF: "The Impact of H.R. 1 on Two Medicaid Eligibility Rules" KFF: "Implementation Dates for 2025 Budget Reconciliation Law" KFF: "Health Care Costs and Affordability" Flu and Measles CDC: Weekly US Influenza Surveillance Report "Flu cases, hospitalizations are rising sharply in CT" Connecticut Department of Public Health: Weekly Respiratory Viral Disease Report CDC: Measles Cases and Outbreaks CDC: Vaccination Coverage and Exemptions among Kindergartners
 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.

In a bonus episode, Howie and Harlan welcome oncologist, bioethicist, and public health expert Ezekiel Emanuel to discuss his new book, which counters the wellness industry by offering simple, evidence-based guidelines for health.  Show notes: Ezekiel Emanuel: Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life "Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: a meta-analytic review" "How Social Isolation Is Killing Us" "Is Full-Fat Dairy Healthier?". "High- and Low-Fat Dairy Consumption and Long-Term Risk of Dementia: Evidence From a 25-Year Prospective Cohort Study" "Milk and Health" Ezekiel Emanuel: "I'm a Harvard-trained oncologist: 6 nutrition myths I wish would die—the 'answer to a longer life is so simple'" "This Test Might Be the Best Way to Track Fitness and Longevity" Health & Veritas Episode 200: An Ongoing Conversation about Health and Healthcare Ezekiel Emanuel: Why You Should Skip Dry January U.S. Surgeon General Advisory: Alcohol and Cancer Risk U.S. Surgeon General Advisory: Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation U.S. Surgeon General Advisory: Protecting Youth Mental Health "The Changing Public Image of Smoking in the United States: 1964–2014" "Tobacco taxes as a tobacco control strategy" "Celebrities Are Making Smoking Cigarettes Cool Again" 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.

In the 200th episode of Health & Veritas, Harlan offers end-of-the-year reflections on medicine drawn from his editor's notes in JACC (the Journal of the American College of Cardiology), and Howie provides updates on gun violence, flu, measles, and the health benefits of yoga. Show notes: Editor's notes by Harlan Krumholz "The Day I Became a Doctor" "When Your Patient Dies" "Rethinking Physician Certification: A Call for a Modern, Meaningful Standard" Gun violence, flu, and measles "Mass shootings outnumber annual days in U.S., children are missing school due to measles, Covid-19 is peeping around the corner, and some hope" "Measles outbreaks worsen in South Carolina, Arizona and Utah" "Connecticut reports first measles case in years" "New Flu Variant May Be Triggering Spike in Severe Disease" "High-Dose Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness against Hospitalization in Older Adults" "Pfizer Reaffirms Full-Year 2025 EPS Guidance and Provides Full-Year 2026 Guidance" The benefits of yoga "Yoga for chronic non‐specific low back pain" "Yoga-based interventions may reduce anxiety symptoms in anxiety disorders and depression symptoms in depressive disorders: a systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-regression" "Effect of Yoga on Frailty in Older Adults" "Yoga in autoimmune disorders: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials" "Long-term effects of yoga-based practices on neural, cognitive, psychological, and physiological outcomes in adults: a scoping review and evidence map" "Yoga isn't just for flexibility. It may also protect brain health." 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 Basmah Safdar, a Yale School of Medicine emergency physician and an expert on sex-specific differences in cardiovascular and microvascular health, which have important implications for the understanding and treatment of heart attacks, long COVID, and other conditions. Harlan reports on Australia's ban on social media for kids, and a Medicare pilot program that will pay providers based on improved outcomes in chronic conditions. Howie unpacks the consequences of the CDC's change to its recommendations for newborn hepatitis B vaccination. Show notes: Social Media and Kids "Australia's Social Media Ban for Children Takes Effect" Health & Veritas Episode 197: Peter Hotez: Mapping the Anti-Science Machine Medicare's ACCESS Payment Model CMS: ACCESS (Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions) Model Basmah Safdar "Medical School Enrollment Reaches 100,000 Students for the First Time" Health & Veritas: Episode 176: Live at the Yale Innovation Summit 2025 "Myocardial ischemia in women: lessons from the NHLBI WISE study" "Sex Differences in COVID-19 Immune Responses Affect Patient Outcomes" "Scientists unravel mystery of sex disparities in COVID-19 outcomes" Health & Veritas Episode 192: Akiko Iwasaki: What Have We Learned About Long COVID? "Basmah Safdar, MD, FACEP, Appointed Director, Women's Health Research at Yale (WHRY)" Women's Health Research at Yale "Women's Health Research at Yale: The Prologue" "History of Women's Participation in Clinical Research" "Policy: NIH to balance sex in cell and animal studies" "Heart attack symptoms often misinterpreted in younger women" Harlan Krumholz: "Sex Difference in Outcomes of Acute Myocardial Infarction in Young Patients" "Women's Health: More Than 'Bikini Medicine'" "Celebrating Carolyn Mazure" "Women's Health Research at Yale: Our Research"  "Current Status of Gender and Racial/Ethnic Disparities Among Academic Emergency Medicine Physicians" "New Women's Health Fund of Funds Launches to Activate $60B in Life Sciences Capital" "Closing the women's health gap: A $1 trillion opportunity to improve lives and economies" "Blueprint to close the women's health gap: How to improve lives and economies for all" "Gates Foundation pledges $2.5 billion to women's health initiatives" "Milken Institute Launches New Women's Health Network, Former First Lady Jill Biden Joins as its Chair" Women's Health Research at Yale: Pilot Project Program Funding Note: Deadline is December 22. Women's Health Research at Yale: Collaborative CDC and Hepatitis B "Panel Votes to Stop Recommending Hepatitis B Shots at Birth for Most Newborns" CDC: Hepatitis B Vaccine Safety WHO: Hepatitis B "New review finds no evidence to support delaying universal hepatitis B birth-dose vaccination" 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 Sudhakar Nuti to discuss his work improving healthcare for homeless New Yorkers, as a street-medicine doctor and a population-health leader at NYC Health + Hospitals. Harlan reports on a proposed law that would cut off funding for U.S. scientists who collaborate with colleagues in China; Howie provides updates on the measles outbreak and a leaked FDA memo claiming that COVID-19 vaccines have killed 10 children. Show notes: Science Across Borders Subtitle C—SAFE Research Act "U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations" Sudhakar Nuti NYC Health + Hospitals Street Medicine Institute "Health Care beyond Clinic Walls—Sustaining and Scaling Up Street Medicine" NYC Health + Hospitals: Street Health Outreach & Wellness Mobile Units "Graduate and professional students tackle food insecurity" California Depart of Public Health: Xylazine Measles CDC: Measles Cases and Outbreaks "Tracking U.S. Measles Outbreaks" World Health Organization: Weekly Epidemiological Record, 2025, vol. 100, no. 48 "Winning against measles: five charts that tell a remarkable 24-year story" "Measles deaths down 88% since 2000, but cases surge" FDA Leak "Experts say top FDA official's claim that Covid vaccines caused kids' deaths requires more evidence" "FDA's Prasad tells staffers agency plans to get tougher on vaccine regulation, blames child deaths on COVID shots" "Thoughts on Vinay Prasad's Leaked Email" "Myocarditis Cases Reported After mRNA-Based COVID-19 Vaccination in the US From December 2020 to August 2021" "Fulminant Myocarditis and Cardiogenic Shock Following COVID-19 Infection Versus COVID-19 Vaccination: A Systematic Literature Review" 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.