The Cost of Care
The Cost of Care
What's your life worth? Healthcare in the United States can bankrupt you, demoralize you—or actually kill you. Healthcare economist David Smith grew up in a Mormon community in Utah, and lost his father, sister, and brother to the same deadly epidemic. He’s spent his career exploring whether their deaths were preventable and how we can make health a priority for everyone. On The Cost of Care, Davi…Social links:
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An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a $4 Trillion Dollars of the Cure
We’ve all heard about the amazing advances in genetic testing and personalized diagnoses. What’s incredible is that these resources are increasingly accessible to each of us, allowing us to anticipate and plan for the uncertainties that lie at some future date. We talk to someone who literally had …
47:27
The US Health System Has Forgotten About Alzheimer's Patients
Alzheimer's is one of the most insidious and heartbreaking diseases a person can face. To make matters worse, the US healthcare system is simply not incentivized to support patients or their families in adapting to the radical change of circumstances. In this episode, David explores the illness, ho…
40:51Clean
Fan Fave: The Doomsday Clock
David Smith watched as chronic pain and addiction transformed his loving father into a vengeful man who was unrecognizable. David has spent a lifetime trying to outrun his father’s fate - but now he’s looking for answers. How can we build a better healthcare system and stop the cycle of sickness, t…
41:49Clean
The Central Crux to American Health: Obesity
Almost half of Americans live with obesity. In this episode we dig into the pain of living with this clinical condition, the social and cultural elements that limit our ability to fully address the obesity epidemic, and thoughts on how the system can be far more responsive to supporting those aroun…
50:03
The Kids are Not Alright: America’s Pediatric Mental Health Crisis
A long-simmering crisis with pediatric mental health care came to a head during the Covid-19 crisis. In this episode, we hear one family’s challenging account of a brilliant young man pushed to the brink and an incredible approach to mental health by a school system in the Bay Area. Special thanks…
52:56Clean
Navigating Supplements in a Market Full of Monster Truck Voices
In this episode, host David Smith sits down with two experts on supplements. We learn more about this health care adjacent market, and all the attendant noise faced by consumers just trying to live better lives. Special thanks to our season two sponsor Thorne. Thorne believes personalized, scienti…
51:07Clean
A Conversation with Nicole Chung: A Living Remedy
On this episode of The Cost of Care, host David Smith speaks with author Nicole Chung, author of A Living Remedy, a searing memoir of family, class and grief—a daughter’s search to understand the lives her adoptive parents led, the life she forged as an adult, and the lives she’s lost. Listen to A …
54:15Clean
When Your Insurance Company Laughs At You
In this episode we examine two cases of irritable bowel disease (IBD). Where both individuals have symptoms that can be addressed through life changing medicines, but yet have outcomes that are wildly different. You'll hear audio from inside United, the country's largest health insurance company, c…
51:13Explicit
The U.S. Healthcare System and Surviving Pediatric Cancer
Nothing pulls at our heartstrings more than a sick kiddo. Remarkably, our system does quite well for children with serious illnesses. But luck plays way too big a part in which kids live or die. Special thanks to our season two sponsor Thorne. Thorne believes personalized, scientific wellness can …
49:33Clean
COVID-19: A Stress Test for the American Healthcare System
The breathtaking pace at which the Covid-19 pandemic upended American society and commerce with lingering effects has scores of lessons that will teach future generations how society should grapple with a debilitating public health crisis while preserving economic vitality, political function, and …
36:50Clean