Episode Details

Vic and guest host Paul Kappleman discuss the state of U.S. healthcare under the Trump administration, including access, affordability, hospital closures, consolidation, and the potential rise of Medicare for All. They examine weakening retail sales, interest rates, $40 trillion in U.S. debt, healthcare venture capital, at-home sleep apnea diagnosis, pancreatic cancer screening, primary care, FDA leadership and AI-enabled medical devices, Medicaid asset limits, Costco entering Medicare, Providence Health Plan's exit, and Moderna's personalized cancer vaccine. They also cover an exercise pill, patient access to test results, Bitcoin and the CLARITY Act, robotic blood draws, Epic's AI platform, OpenAI's new protections for teens and enterprise users, and Amazon's expansion of drone delivery.

1 — In This Economy

17:09 - U.S. Retail Sales Fell 0.6% in July to $763.6 Billion, Missing Forecasts for Growth  WSJ

17:26 - Fed Minutes Reveal Broader Support for Rate Increases WSJ

17:56 - U.S. Debt Hits $40 Trillion as America’s Borrowing Binge Continues NYT

2 — VC Deal Review

19:58 - Happy Health Snags $75M to Support Home-Based Care MedCity sleep

21:24 - Craif raises $33M to boost work on its urine test for cancer Fierce Healthcare. Urine pancreatic cancer

22:27 - Aligned Marketplace Secures $20M for Advanced Primary Care Marketplace MedCity

3 — Policy

25:05 - Trump Taps Dr. Heidi Overton to Lead FDA NYT

27:18 - FDA: Considerations for the Regulation of Generative AI-Enabled Medical Devices: Discussion Paper and 

Request for Feedback. Reg.gov

4 — Health Payors

29:25 - Medi-Cal plans brace for ‘devastating’ asset limit crunch Beckers

31:35 - Costco Sells Vacations, Gas and, Soon, Medicare Plans WSJ

33:33 - Providence Health Plan to close completely after Medicare Advantage deal falls through Healthcare Dive

5 — Pharma & Novel Therapies

37:11 - Moderna Shares More Than Double on Success of mRNA Cancer Vaccine WSJ

39:50 - An ‘Exercise Pill’ Just Cleared Its First Human Test Gizmodo