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 it and said well, ‘these are providers who are committing to society to vulnerable Americans that they’re going to help with their healthcare needs’…. but paying up to commercial rates kind of changes the focus of the program, where it becomes more about facilities profiting more than making sure patients are taken good care of.”

Carlton also answered questions from hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter shortly before Congress passed the bill. In addition, she discussed how they believe modern technology can help with new Medicaid work requirements, concerns about the National Health Service Corps and the administration’s plans to lower prescription drug costs.

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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 to 100,” says S. Jay Olshansky, Ph.D., Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago. He and his colleagues made headlines when they presented data that humans are approaching a biologically-based limit to life.

Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter ask Olshansky about the implications of this research — for each of us personally and for policymakers — after decades of hearing predictions that life expectancy would continue to go up. Olshanky explains why we should celebrate longer life that has resulted from healthier diets and medical advances but now focus on improving quality of life in later years.

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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 Long COVID patients over 60 show cognitive decline that mirrors early signs of dementia.

“The parts of the brain that are affected by COVID overlap significantly with those that are affected early in the course of Alzheimer’s….the changes overlap, but they are not identical.”

His team is now studying brain imaging and biomarkers to understand the link between COVID-related cognitive decline and traditional neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. de Erausquin also explains how persistent loss of smell — a hallmark COVID symptom — may be the strongest predictor of ongoing cognitive issues, and how genetic sequencing is helping uncover inherited risk.

He highlights a dual reality: while many Long COVID patients show biological changes, others had prior diagnoses of depression, anxiety, or chronic fatigue — a nuance often missing from public conversations.

Click to hear the full conversation with hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter.

“Originally aired on May 15, 2025”

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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 to resources, and serve as trusted guides who understand firsthand the challenges faced by today’s youth.

Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter, hosts of “Conversations on Healthcare,” bring their extensive experience to the conversation. They speak to Corps funders Marie Groark, the managing director of the Schultz Family Foundation, and Alise Marshall, the senior global lead for public affairs at Pinterest.

Groark shares early findings from the Youth Mental Health Corps. “What they found is that when you have a Youth Mental Health Corps member in your school, especially, you see improved attendance, fewer behavioral incidents, and increased student awareness of mental health and help-seeking behavior.”

Focusing on prevention and early intervention, Marshall highlights the power of peer connection. “It is difficult for young people to trust educators and parents when navigating adolescence. Having someone very recently been there, who has navigated the same issues, can make a very big difference.”

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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, Dr. Koralnik explains how patients who have experienced more episodes of COVID are at a higher risk of developing Long COVID.

Dr. Koralnik tells hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter that his work includes investigating potential causes such as viral persistence, autoimmune responses, and microvascular changes. His clinic also supports patients through regular virtual support groups that provide education and emotional care.

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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 worse excesses around …Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and vaccine policy.”

But she also tells hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter that “Of course, this is an extremely worrisome time… many of the changes we’re seeing are even more extreme than may have been anticipated.”

In addition, Dr. Wen urges nuance in evaluating public health claims. “It’s important for us to evaluate each of these claims separately… and not have a knee-jerk reaction to everything [Kennedy] says.”

This episode dives into the politics of vaccines, the measles outbreak, food additives, artificial intelligence in medicine, and the evolving role of trust in public health.

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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 are unhappy with how many reductions there are to the Medicaid program… including people who voted for the Republican [Party] and President Trump,” she said.

Rovner also reviewed the Trump administration’s efforts to ignore congressional appropriations and other laws. “As I say, this administration… is not following the law” and Rovner explained how that threatens the country’s public health.

From the future of Medicaid and food assistance to questions about accountability and health infrastructure, this conversation offers crucial insights into the latest health policy flashpoints with hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter.

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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 Long COVID patients over 60 show cognitive decline that mirrors early signs of dementia.

“The parts of the brain that are affected by COVID overlap significantly with those that are affected early in the course of Alzheimer’s….the changes overlap, but they are not identical.”

His team is now studying brain imaging and biomarkers to understand the link between COVID-related cognitive decline and traditional neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. de Erausquin also explains how persistent loss of smell — a hallmark COVID symptom — may be the strongest predictor of ongoing cognitive issues, and how genetic sequencing is helping uncover inherited risk.

He highlights a dual reality: while many Long COVID patients show biological changes, others had prior diagnoses of depression, anxiety, or chronic fatigue — a nuance often missing from public conversations.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.