Health & Veritas

Howie and Harlan are joined by geneticist and endocrinologist Joel Hirschhorn to discuss how thousands of genetic variants collectively shape disease and traits like height and obesity. Harlan reviews new research on diet soda and dementia; Howie surveys recent market swings, including the rise of Solace Health and the decline of Hims & Hers.
Show notes:
Diet Soda and Dementia
"Soda consumption and risk of dementia: The Northern Manhattan study" 
"Why One Cardiologist Has Drunk His Last Diet Soda"
Joel Hirschhorn
National Human Genome Research Institute: Mendelian Inheritance
MedlinePlus: FGFR3 gene 
Cleveland Clinic: Achondroplasia
National Human Genome Research: Polygenic Trait 
Hirschhorn Lab
"A saturated map of common genetic variants associated with human height" 
"What are single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)?"
ScienceDirect: Genetic Variant
Joel Hirschhorn: "Genome-Wide Association Study of Quantitative Kidney Function in 52,531 Individuals with Diabetes Identifies Five Diabetes-Specific Loci"
Joel Hirschhorn: "Polygenic prediction of body mass index and obesity through the life course and across ancestries"
"Obesity Prediction Could Be Guided by Genetic Risk Scores"
"Genome-wide association study shows BCL11A associated with persistent fetal hemoglobin and amelioration of the phenotype of β-thalassemia" 
Society for Science: Noam Elkies
MIT: Eric S. Lander
Ups and Downs
"Understanding Creative Destruction: Driving Innovation and Economic Change"
"Solace Health raises $130M series C for advocacy platform"
"Molina Healthcare's stocks fall as company plans exit from Medicare Advantage" 
"Centene swings to loss but predicts stabilization in 2026"
"UnitedHealth limps into 2026 with a smaller business and fresh challenges"
"Hims & Hers Falls 14% After Pulling Copycat Wegovy Pill—Novo Nordisk Up 8%" 
"Compounding and the FDA: Questions and Answers"

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 an escalating measles outbreak in the U.S. and a project piloted by Yale School of Medicine professor Erica Spatz to deliver preventative care in barbershops and beauty salons. Also examined: flu season, nipah virus, and the perils of focusing on healthcare business models.
Show notes: 
Measles
CDC: Measles Outbreak Associated with an Infectious Traveler—Colorado, May–June 2025
CDC: Measles Cases and Outbreaks
Snohomish County Health Department: Snohomish County Confirms Three New Measles Cases
"Measles in an ICE facility is a public health failure"
Value-Based Care
"Value-Based Care: What It Is, and Why It's Needed"
"Supporting Value-Based Health Care—Aligning Financial and Legal Accountability"
American Hospital Association: 3 Ways AI Can Improve Revenue-Cycle Management
Preventative Cardiology
Yale School of Medicine: Erica Spatz, MD, MHS
Pressure Check
Marketplace Health Insurance
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: Marketplace 2026 Open Enrollment Period Report: National Snapshot
Respiratory Illness
CDC: Weekly US Influenza Surveillance Report: Key Updates for Week 3, ending January 24, 2026
"After 3-week decline, flu cases rise across the US; RSV, COVID activity high in certain states"
Nipah Virus
CDC: About Nipah Virus
WHO: Nipah virus infection—India

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 internist and author Robert Wachter to discuss his new book, which explores how AI is already changing day-to-day medical practice and argues that it can improve care, reduce burnout, and even help repair a broken healthcare system.
Show notes:
Robert Wachter: A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future
Robert Wachter: The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age
Robert Wachter: "Pattern Recognition"
"AI Prognosis: Readers' predictions for health AI in 2026. What's on your bingo card?"
Robert Wachter: "Will The AI Jobpocalypse Hit Healthcare?"
Video: Geoff Hinton on deep learning and radiology
"Call me Dr Ishmael: trends in electronic health record notes available at emergency department visits and admissions"
"OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health to connect user medical records, wellness apps"
"Utah launches first-in-the-nation trial that lets AI renew your prescription"
Robert Wachter: "Will AI Rescue Primary Care?"
"We found what you're asking ChatGPT about health. A doctor scored its answers."
Robert Wachter: "We Need Medical AI for Patients"
Robert Wachter: "Medicine's AI Knowledge War Heats Up" 
Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medical Education: Proceedings and Recommendations
Robert Wachter: Deskilling and Healthcare AI"
"Are A.I. Tools Making Doctors Worse at Their Jobs?"
"The Robot Doctor Will See You Now"
Atul Gawande: "Personal Best"

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 Mary-Ann Etiebet of the public health organization Vital Strategies to discuss how policy, prevention, and stronger public-health systems can reduce the global burden of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other preventable conditions. Harlan reports on the federal push toward fully autonomous clinical care for heart failure; Howie looks at proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage payments and what they mean for beneficiaries, plans, and taxpayers.
Show notes:
Autonomous Care
SAM.gov: Agentic AI-EnableD CardioVascular CAre TransfOrmation (ADVOCATE) Proposers' Day Special Notice 
"ARPA-H to revolutionize cardiovascular disease management with clinical agentic AI" 
ARPA-H: Agentic AI-Enabled Cardiovascular Care Transformation 
Mary-Ann Etiebet
Health & Veritas Episode 7: Dr. Mary-Ann Etiebet: Saving Mothers' Lives 
Vital Strategies 
WHO: Noncommunicable diseases
WHO: Global NCD Compact 2020–2030
"Health Taxes Are a Triple Win for African Countries—New Brief From Vital Strategies and Partners Provides Strategy"
Mary-Ann Etiebet: "Using Health Taxes to Promote Public Good" 
"'Historic Public Health Victory': Vital Strategies Applauds Brazil's Approval of Selective Tax on Tobacco, Soft Drinks, and Alcohol"
Vital Strategies: Partners
WHO: Civil registration and vital statistics 
HHS: United States Completes WHO Withdrawal
WHO statement on notification of withdrawal of the United States
Medicare Advantage
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: "CMS Proposes 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D Payment Policies to Improve Payment Accuracy and Sustainability"
"Medicare Advantage in 2025: Enrollment Update and Key Trends"
"Trump administration signals there's widespread desire to curb Medicare Advantage" 
"Medicare Rates Shock Sparks $100 Billion Selloff in Insurers"

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 health policy writer Jonathan Cohn to discuss the RFK Jr. food agenda, the barriers to universal healthcare in the U.S., and working alongside former political adversaries at The Bulwark. Harlan reports on a lawsuit exposing gaps in the privacy of medical-records systems; Howie highlights new research suggesting that a sharp drop in opioid overdose deaths may be temporary.
Show notes:
Data Privacy
"Epic's lawsuit against Health Gorilla raises broader issues about the future of data sharing, industry executives say"
The Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement
Jonathan Cohn
The Bulwark
The Bulwark: The Breakdown
Jonathan Cohn: "The Real Story Behind the Minnesota Welfare Fraud Scandal"
Jonathan Cohn: "How Somalis Became the New 'Welfare Queens'"
FDA: Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Advertisements
FDA: Unique Device Identifiers
Jonathan Cohn: "Trump's Assault on Health Care, Seen from a Country That Does Health Care Better"
Jonathan Cohn: Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis—and the People Who Pay the Price
Jonathan Cohn: "Michelle Obama Will Be Accepting Your Apologies Now" 
"RFK Jr.'s new dietary guidelines go all in on meat and dairy" 
Opioid Deaths
CDC: Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts 
"Did the illicit fentanyl trade experience a supply shock?"

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.