Conversations on Health Care
Conversations On Health Care features in-depth discussions on health policy and innovation with industry newsmakers from around the globe. The podcast is produced by Community Health Center, Inc., Connecticut’s largest provider of medical, dental and behavioral healthcare to the underserved, and hosted by Founder, President and CEO Mark Masselli and Vice President and Clinical Director Margaret Flinter.
ongress Races to Find Obamacare Subsidy Solution: Reporters Examine the Efforts
Originally broadcast December 11, 2025 Congress is scrambling to find a solution to the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of the year. Without action, premiums are set to rise sharply for millions of Americans, creating a major health care cliff as 2026 approaches. Congressional reporters Sandhya Raman (CQ Roll Call) and Robert King (Politico) join hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter to help make sense of the fast-moving negotiations and what is likely to happen...
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Flu Cases Rising: “It’s Not Good,” Says Former CDC Dir. Dr. Tom Frieden
Originally broadcast December 4, 2025 The doctor who once led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sees trouble ahead: “It’s not good…what we have seen from Europe is a very early and very severe flu season, something that could mean more hospitalizations.” Dr. Tom Frieden says confusing vaccine guidance, limited access and weakened public health systems are contributing to fewer shots in arms. He also shares insights from his new book, “The Formula for Better Health: How to Save...
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Can You Have a ‘Healthy’ Thanksgiving? How the Food Industry Conspires Against Us
Leading nutritionist Marion Nestle, Ph.D., has a sobering message as we get ready for Thanksgiving: America’s food system delivers twice the calories we need while wasting 40%. “Thanksgiving provides five times the calories we need,” she points out. Her advice? “It is a week in which you just have to do the best you can.” But once we’ve cleared the dishes after Thursday’s meal, Nestle offers practical advice for people trying to make healthy, budget-conscious choices as food prices continue...
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How Dr. Sanjeev Arora Helped Improve Care for 200 Million Patients
People around the world are living longer and healthier lives because of an innovative idea that became a global force for change. On this episode of Conversations on Health Care, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter welcome back Dr. Sanjeev Arora, founder of Project ECHO, an approach that has already improved care for more than 200 million patients worldwide. Project ECHO was born from one question Dr. Arora asked himself more than 20 years ago: How do we make sure...
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“Cash for Moms and Babies”: How it Works & Why
Originally broadcast November 13, 2025 What if health care for moms and babies came with a cash prescription for them? In this Conversations on Health Care episode, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter welcome back Dr. Mona Hanna, the Flint pediatrician whose research exposed the city’s water crisis and sparked a national reckoning on environmental justice. Now, Dr. Hanna returns to share powerful results from Rx Kids, the nation’s first community-wide prenatal and infant cash prescription program. By providing unconditional...
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Intimate Partner Violence: Health Care Providers’ Role
Originally broadcast November 6, 2025 Intimate partner violence affects more women in the United States than breast cancer and diabetes combined. Health care providers can be a lifeline for survivors, yet many still struggle to know how to talk about it or where to begin. In this Conversations on Health Care episode, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Virginia Duplessis, associate director at Futures Without Violence and director of the National Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence. Duplessis...
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Shutdown Threatens Food Benefits: Family Physicians Leader Urges Resolution
Food insecurity could soon worsen for millions of families and result in devastating health outcomes. American Academy of Family Physicians CEO Shawn Martin joins hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter to discuss how the government shutdown is putting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in jeopardy. Beginning on Saturday, Nov. 1, food assistance could end for up to 22 million recipients. Martin and his 128,000 members are calling for bipartisan action to reopen the government and protect families from unnecessary...
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New Research Bolsters Model for Preventing Infant Mortality
Originally broadcast June 5, 2024. A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that several Southeastern states continue to report the highest rates of late-pregnancy fetal death in the country. This is the kind of research that energizes Nurse-Family Partnership supporters to build on their mission to positively impact and transform the lives of first-time moms and their babies through a proven home visiting model. The NFP model connects specially trained nurses with first-time mothers from...
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Preventing Veteran Suicides: Strategies & Tactics
Veterans Day, which is less than a month away, is a time to honor and reflect on those who’ve served. Yet statistics reveal a troubling reality: Veterans are dying by suicide at 1.5 times the rate of the general population. Suicide is now the second leading cause of death among veterans under 45. Craig Bryan, clinical psychologist, Iraq War veteran, and author of “Rethinking Suicide: Why Prevention Fails and How We Can Do Better,” joined hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret...
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Government Shutdown Stalls Drug Discount Program 340B
Originally broadcast October 9, 2025 $44 billion in drugs that help Americans are purchased through a little-known federal discount program called 340B. The program is recognized for successfully helping hospitals, community health centers and others that fund care for low-income patients. But that program is now facing big challenges from drugmakers, and the current government shutdown has brought new uncertainty. Reporter William Newton of 340B Report tells hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter that the shutdown has delayed approvals...
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How Govt. Shutdown Affects Telemedicine
Originally broadcast October 2, 2025 The federal government is shut down and the ripple effects are being felt. Legislation tied to the budget impasse also means Medicare telehealth flexibilities and the Acute Hospital Care at Home program expired early Wednesday morning. “Most providers and hospital systems are taking calculated risks to continue care during this time, but long-term continuity depends on action by our telehealth champions in Washington to restore these flexibilities and ensure retroactive reimbursement,” says Kyle Zebley, senior...
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Nancy Pelosi Returns: Our 16th Anniversary Show
Originally broadcast Tuesday, September 23, 2025 Happy anniversary to “Conversations on Health Care”! We posted our first program 16 years ago on Sept. 23, 2009. Now, we’re bringing back our first two guests to reflect on where we’ve been and where we’re going in health care. Nancy Pelosi was serving as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and trying to get the Affordable Care Act passed when she joined us on that inaugural show. Today, she continues to serve...
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‘How Healing Works’ Author Dr. Wayne Jonas Explains His Approach
Dr. Wayne Jonas, who formerly led the National Institutes of Health Office of Alternative Medicine, now directs the Healing Works Foundation, which has a mission to “make whole person, integrative care regular and routine.” “The data is very clear: most health does not come from going to your doctor and getting a diagnosis or treatment,” Jonas tells hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter. “The body is continually healing.” Jonas shares the story of a man he calls “Joe,” a grandfather...
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‘Next Week Will be Telling’: Reporters Prepare for Ex-CDC Dir. Testimony
Next week former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez will testify in a Senate hearing. The reporters who cover health care in Washington think there could be big revelations about why Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. fired her. Sandhya Raman, health care reporter for Congressional Quarterly and Roll Call, and Michael McAuliff, who covers policy for Modern Healthcare, join our Reporters’ Roundtable. McAuliff says no matter what is discovered during the testimony, Kennedy’s...
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RFK, Jr.’s Vaccine Fight: ‘Threat to Good Public Health’
Supporters say Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is fulfilling his vision to be “pro-safety,” not anti-vaccine. His recent actions have included restricting COVID eligibility, dissolving expert panels, installing skeptical voices and defunding mRNA development. Michael Osterholm, Ph.D., director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, is pushing back and says, “I’ve never in my 50 years in public health experienced anything like this in terms of the threat to good public health.” Osterholm and...
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Mayo Clinic Doctor Leads The Patient Revolution: Insights & Tools to Improve Health Care
Originally broadcast Wednesday, August 27 Dr. Victor Montori, a Mayo Clinic endocrinologist, internationally recognized researcher, and author of “Why We Revolt,” joins hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter to talk about what it really means to fix a health care system that he believes has lost its way. Montori leads The Patient Revolution, a global movement aiming to make health care more elegant with “no waste or haste, focused on the biology and biography of each person, responsive to each...
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“Father of Aerobics” at 94: Dr. Cooper’s Unrelenting Health Advocacy
Dr. Kenneth Cooper’s FitnessGram is on the ropes. President Trump recently reestablished the Presidential Fitness Test; over 10 years ago, the government replaced the test with Dr. Cooper’s FitnessGram, “the first student fitness report card.” Dr. Cooper has a cautious reaction. “Whether they’re going to be using exactly as the test [in the new process] is not really known. I am delighted to see that they realize the importance of childhood fitness.” To him, it just makes sense to measure...
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America’s Mental Health Crisis: Philanthropy’s Bold Action Plan
Originally broadcast August 14, 2025 One in five U.S. adults lives with a mental illness, yet only a fraction of philanthropic dollars goes toward mental health, addiction, and well-being. Alyson Niemann, CEO of Mindful Philanthropy, joined Conversations on Health Care hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter to share how her organization is closing this gap and inspiring bold new investments. “We issued a challenge … to increase the funding to mental health, addiction, and well-being to $35 billion annually by...
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Food is Medicine Advocate Urges Evidence-Based Solutions Amid SNAP Cutbacks
Originally broadcast August 7, 2025 Experts who believe in the “food is medicine” concept say recent decisions made in Washington could have a devastating effect. Dr. Hilary Seligman, a nationally recognized expert on food insecurity and health outcomes at the University of California San Francisco, spoke to “Conversations on Health Care.” The interview highlighted that cutbacks to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are projected to reduce federal spending by $186 billion over the next decade. She believes this could...
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60 Years of Medicaid & Medicare: Health Care Challenges & Opportunities
Americans are living longer for many reasons and experts credit Medicare and Medicaid for some of this success. This week, these federal programs are celebrating their own birthdays. Sixty years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law. However, recent moves are expected to result in decreased enrollment and payments to health care providers. “Conversations on Health Care” hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Mark Updegrove about this situation. Updegrove is the president and CEO...
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NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow: Curing Addiction a Real Possibility
“I would have never, ever in my whole life have said, ‘we’re going to cure addiction.’ I think we now have knowledge and tools that could potentially, definitely lead us to a cure for addiction.” — Dr. Nora Volkow, Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse Dr. Volkow shared her attention-getting belief with “Conversations on Health” at Aspen Ideas: Health. Healthcare providers and society at large have spent decades dealing with substance use disorders and the loss of life has been...
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Pretend You Have Millions to Fix Health Care: What Would You Do? A Doctor Gives His Answer
Dr. Betancourt, president of the influential The Commonwealth Fund, is committed to “Affordable, quality health care. For everyone.” Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter interviewed him at Aspen Ideas: Health at the Aspen Institute. Here are some of the Fund’s top concerns right now: Dr. Betancourt, the first Latino to lead the Fund, is also proud of health equity as he defines it: “My lived experience informs a lot of my ideas around how our foundation can go forward…it’s about...
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Dr. Oz’s Second-in-Command Explains Need for Medicaid Reimbursement Cuts as “Big Beautiful Bill” Passes
President Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” into law on July 4 and now leaders such as Stephanie Carlton are in charge of implementing it. She’s the deputy administrator and chief of staff at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Carlton and the administration see the law’s benefits because Medicaid reimbursement rates “were allowed to go up to commercial rates and states are at varying levels towards that cap. But as we sat back and looked at...
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How Realistic is Super Aging? Research-Based Answers (Encore)
ENCORE – Originally aired November 7, 2024 There’s a lot of attention right now around “super agers.” Yet the facts are that current life expectancy at birth is 74.8 years for males and for females it’s 80.2 years in the U.S. Does it catch your eye when you hear about predictions we’ll be able to live to 100 and beyond? Some researchers are throwing cold water on those notions. “We’ll be lucky if 5% of the age cohort makes it...
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Unlocking Long COVID Mysteries: Dementia-Like Symptoms & Pre-Existing Conditions
Originally broadcast May 15, 2025 Millions are still living with the effects of Long COVID and new research shows that for older adults, the consequences may be profound and lasting. In part one of a special two-part series on “Conversations on Health Care,” Dr. Gabriel de Erausquin, a neurologist and leading Long COVID researcher at the University of Texas Health San Antonio, shares groundbreaking findings from his global study of over 3,500 patients. His work reveals a troubling connection: many...
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Youth Mental Health Crisis: Can a New Corps Create a Solution?
It’s a troubling situation: Nearly one in three high school students report persistent feelings of hopelessness. At the same time, many communities have a lack of mental health professionals to counsel and help young people.Leaders from philanthropy, public health, and private sectors think they have a path to a solution: Youth Mental Health Corps. This program, which launched a year ago, places young adults as mental health navigators in schools and community organizations. These navigators provide peer-to-peer support, connect young people and families...
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400 Million+ People Globally With Long COVID: A Top Researcher Seeks Solutions
Description: Dr. Igor Koralnik, the co-director of Northwestern Medicine’s Comprehensive COVID-19 Center, is one of the world’s leading Long COVID researchers. For instance, he’s been involved in a first-of its-kind study that’s giving experts an idea of how Long COVID affects the body by looking through the eyes. Patients at his center receive coordinated care across 14 different specialties to address the many ways Long COVID affects the body. In the second part of our two-part series on Long COVID,...
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Dr. Leana Wen Grades RFK Jr. on Health Care: What Does She Say?
Dr. Leana Wen, a health news commentator for The Washington Post and CNN, is known for trying to have an open view toward untraditional opinions. For instance, she tells “Conversations on Health Care” that the new National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration directors are both “qualified individuals who have credentials from major medical institutions, who have worked in those fields.” She says her hope is that “behind the scenes they will act as tempering force… against the...
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Breaking News: House Budget Hawks Victorious Over Medicaid Defenders
Very early this morning the U.S. House passed a bill that would result in more than 7 million people losing Medicaid coverage if it became law; that estimate is from the Congressional Budget Office. As the bill was coming together, the chief Washington correspondent for KFF Health News shared her analysis. Julie Rovner highlighted that to get a bill across the finish line was going to require overcoming the skepticism of some politicians. “There’s a growing group of Republicans who...
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Unlocking Long COVID Mysteries: Dementia-Like Symptoms & Pre-Existing Conditions
Originally broadcast May 15, 2025 Millions are still living with the effects of Long COVID and new research shows that for older adults, the consequences may be profound and lasting. In part one of a special two-part series on “Conversations on Health Care,” Dr. Gabriel de Erausquin, a neurologist and leading Long COVID researcher at the University of Texas Health San Antonio, shares groundbreaking findings from his global study of over 3,500 patients. His work reveals a troubling connection: many...
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Menacing Melanoma: Marc Hulbert, PhD on How You Can Fight Back
Originally broadcast May 8, 2025 Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, and melanoma is its deadliest form. Cases have tripled in the past 30 years, particularly among younger people — even as rates for other common cancers have gone down. Marc Hurlbert, Ph.D., CEO of the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA), joins “Conversations on Health Care” hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter to talk about the urgent need for more research, the role of philanthropy, and...
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Healthcare Disability Advocate, Fueled by Personal Experience: Megan Morris
A recent survey surprisingly found only 41% of physicians were “very confident” about their ability to provide equal quality care to patients with a disability. Megan Morris, Ph.D., and her allies are trying to figure out why and how to boost that percentage. STAT News’ STATUS List recently added Morris to its prestigious collection of influencers because of her role as founder of the Disability Equity Collaborative. In an interview with “Conversations on Health Care” hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret...
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Breaking News: Food Dye Ban: Support But More Needed, Says Dr. Marion Nestle
Originally broadcast April 22, 2025 Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the U.S. will phase out the remaining eight artificial food dyes from America’s food supply within two years. This is a move that leading nutritionist and author Marion Nestle, Ph.D., has long advocated for. “Conversations on Health Care” hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter spoke to her before today’s news conference. She says, “I’m all for getting bad chemicals out of the food supply,...
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“ChatGPT, MD”: Author Says AI-Empowered Patients, Doctors Take Control
Originally broadcast April 17, 2025 The U.S. healthcare system could save up to 500,000 lives and $1.5 trillion a year by embracing the right technology, says Dr. Robert Pearl, a Stanford University professor and a noted healthcare influencer. Pearl, who co-authored his new book “ChatGPT, MD” with the help of generative AI, says the tech’s strength lies in its access to the entirety of medical knowledge. “We shouldn’t think of [generative AI] as just another AI tool. This is as...
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Mystery No More: Howard Hughes’ Legacy Advances Science
Originally broadcast April 10, 2025 Eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes founded his eponymous Medical Institute over 70 years ago devoted to “unlocking the fundamentals of biology and building an open, inclusive future for science”. Some say Howard Hughes Medical Institute is bringing its founder’s vision into the future with its one-of-a-kind Janelia Research Campus in Ashburn, Virginia. On this 281-acre parcel of land, integrated teams of lab scientists and tool-builders pursue a small number of scientific questions with potential for transformative...
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'If Ryan Reynolds doesn’t get you to do it…’: Colorectal Cancer Alliance CEO talks screening
Originally broadcast April 3, 2025 Roughly 85% of respondents to a survey cited by Michael Sapienza, CEO of the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, say they would rather do their taxes than get a colonoscopy. “We need to do a better job of talking to the public about the barriers,” Sapienza tells “Conversations on Health Care” hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter. Sapienza, whose mother died of the disease at age 58, says people may be less than excited to do the...
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Food is Medicine: How Young Changemakers are Transforming Healthcare
Originally broadcast March 27, 2025 Two young innovators are leading a movement that proves food isn’t just fuel—it’s medicine. In this episode of “Conversations on Health Care,” Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter talk with Christian Heiden, founder of Levo International, and Alissa Wassung, executive director of the Food is Medicine Coalition, about how their work is shaping the future of healthcare through food. For Heiden, hydroponic farming offers an innovative way to get fresh, nutritious food into the hands of...
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Hon. Mary Bono, Mothers for Awareness and Prevention of Drug Abuse
Originally broadcast March 20, 2025 Mary Bono has left the halls of Congress, but she’s still winning with her efforts to stop the misuse of both prescription and illegal drugs. Bono, co-founder and chair of Mothers for Awareness and Prevention of Drug Abuse, wants to see a focus on solutions from lawmakers. With a greater presence of fentanyl in the drug supply, “everything [has] changed because there’s no longer time for experimentation,” Bono says. “‘One pill can kill’ is a [Drug...
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Michael J. Fox’s Foundation Makes Parkinson’s Breakthrough
Originally broadcast March 13, 2025 Emmy award-winning actor Michael J. Fox shocked the world when he announced over 25 years ago that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Since then, he’s devoted his talents to eliminating Parkinson’s in our lifetime. Researchers with The Michael J. Fox Foundation now have impressive progress to report. They’ve developed a biomarker test to measure the protein alpha synuclein that’s helping to diagnose Parkinson’s with more than 90% accuracy, even proving effective at identifying...
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Colorectal Cancer Rising for Millennials & Gen Z: How to Reverse the Trend
Originally broadcast February 15, 2024 About 1 in 5 colorectal patients are now under the age of 55, and colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death for men under age 50 and the second for women under 50. During Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, we present this encore presentation of our interview with Dr. Alan Venook. Dr. Venook is with the University of California-San Francisco and is one of the nation’s leading colorectal cancer researchers. He explained to...
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