When we first featured a guest discussing GLP-1 therapies, the public’s understanding of these drugs to treat obesity was still developing. In 2023, our expert was Dr. Jamy Ard, the then-incoming president of The Obesity Society. Even then, Dr. Ard was stressing that more choices would lower prices for consumers. We look back on that […]

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Guess what all the following have in common? They are all now available and widely used because of an important step lawmakers in Washington took over 45 years ago. Co-host Margaret Flinter says, “This is the biggest legislative success story that we’ve never heard of.” Join her and co-host Mark Masselli as they discover how […]

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In one month, we’ll celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s founding. But among the fireworks and festivities, a serious point may get overlooked:  The founders also revolutionized public health when they formed the United States. What influenced their thinking and how do these actions still affect health care today? Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter […]

The post Red, White & You: Your Health & How America’s Founding Made It Better appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

Researchers are “fetching” new discoveries about the incredible benefits pets and animals provide for human health. Steven Feldman, a proud feline father, is at the center of these efforts as the president of the Human Animal Bond Research Institute. “Most people probably have a feeling that their pets are good for them, and we’re the […]

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Right before many of us get ready for a long weekend of hot dogs and potato chips, two health public policy experts are shaking up what we think we know about food. Study after study has found that ultra-processed foods are linked to “heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, depression, anxiety, and early death, even […]

The post Hot Dogs, Jello, Waffle House: Time to Rethink ‘Bad’ Foods? appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

For more than five decades, Craig Robinson has helped shape the future of community health in West Virginia and beyond. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter talk with the longtime executive director of Cabin Creek Health Systems to reflect on a career spent expanding access to care in rural communities, building innovative community health models, and […]

The post How a West Virginia Community Health Center Leader Inspires the Country appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

The authors of a new book reveal that former President Obama told them that he had an “inability to boil issues down to their essence, to tell a story…” and explained how it hurt him as he tried to pass the Affordable Care Act. This insight and others are at the core of Dr. David […]

The post What Fmr. President Obama Told Our Guests About His Big Health Care Misstep appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

A nurse in a Baltimore laundromat might be testing one of the most important ideas in American health care: what if care started before you ever needed the emergency room? Organizations from NPR to the Milbank Memorial Fund are closely watching the Neighborhood Nursing program that the top-ranked Johns Hopkins School of Nursing has brought […]

The post The Nurse at the Laundromat: An Innovative Model appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

Kathleen Sebelius was in charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services when the Affordable Care Act became law. Now, she and a bipartisan group are putting their best thinking forward for how to fix rural health care. Their report from Aspen Institute’s Health Strategy Group calls the rural mortality gap a “moral […]

The post Kathleen Sebelius Ran HHS. Now, She’s Tackling Rural Health appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

Many viewers know Becky Quick as the steady voice on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” where she explains what’s happening on Wall Street and interviews the world’s top business leaders.  Now, she joins Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter to share a very different story, one she lived privately for years while navigating her daughter’s rare genetic diagnosis. Quick’s […]

The post Why CNBC’s Becky Quick is Bullish on Rare Disease Cures: Her Family’s Story appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

Medical experts know that fresh vegetables play a very beneficial role in health but if you can’t afford them, you’re mostly out of luck. Fixing this situation is the latest passion of Mark Masselli, co-host of “Conversations on Health Care” and president, CEO, and founder of Moses/Weitzman Health System. In this special episode, co-host Margaret […]

The post Why is a Health Innovator Growing Fresh Veggies Year-Round? Mark Masselli’s Next Big Vision appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.