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.