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Healthcare System

Fixing Health Insurance with Emma Passé: PYP 327

June 18, 2019

Emma Passé is Chief Operating Officer at E-Powered Benefits, one of the renegade benefits brokers challenging a bloated and broken healthcare system.

I first met Emma a year ago at a healthcare conference, where she brought down the house with a spirited, entertaining, and incisive look at how health plans negotiate prices with providers.

You might not think that the topic of “reference-based pricing” would be all that interesting to the non-wonks in the room, but Emma has a way of making it relevant and fun. And, when you discover how you’ve been overpaying for healthcare all these years, you might become outraged as well.

When I found out that Emma was going to be in Charlotte, NC for the day, I drove for a couple of hours with my portable podcasting studio and met her for an interview. 

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What if Peanut Butter Cups Had Never Been Invented?

May 28, 2019

When I was a kid, there was this incredibly annoying TV commercial for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

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A Systems Approach to Fighting Chronic Disease with Olivia Kelly: PYP 324

May 28, 2019

Olivia Kelly is CEO and co-founder of WellStart Health, the fabulously amazing startup that I also co-founded. So everything I’m going to say about her is totally unbiased.

Olivia and I have been jetsetting this spring, attending healthcare-related conferences in exotic locations like Washington, DC, and Raleigh, NC. And because we’re trying to take a “systems approach” to solving our chronic-disease fueled healthcare crisis, the conferences we attend are quite diverse in goal, scope, and attendees. 

In fact, I’m almost positive that Olivia and I are the only elements in the intersection set of the World Health Care Congress (WHCC) and the Plant-Based Prevention of Disease Conference (P-POD). 

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Dr Wayne Jonas on the Science of Healing: PYP 323

May 22, 2019

Dr Wayne Jonas is a pioneer in integrative, healing-based, patient-centered healthcare. He was director of the NIH Office of Alternative Medicine from 1995-1999, and led the World Health Organization’s Collaborative Center for Traditional Medicine.In our conversation, we look at the triply oxymoronic “Health Care System” (produces about 20% of public health, doesn’t provide much quality care, and is not an integrated system), and what it’s missing and how to reimagine healthcare.

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Bringing Health to the People, One Step at a Time with David Sabgir, MD: PYP 317

April 9, 2019

David Sabgir, MD, is a cardiologist practicing at the founder of Walk with a Doc, a movement within the field of lifestyle medicine whose mission is to empower doctors to share the health and happiness benefits of walking with their patients.From a single walk in Columbus, Ohio in April 2005, Walk with a Doc has grown to 500 chapters worldwide. In addition to the walk itself, the free events also include education on healthy habits and lifestyle.

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Finding Balance and Reimagining Cardiology with Monica Aggarwal, MD: PYP 314

March 19, 2019

When I asked Dr Monica Aggarwal to join me on this podcast, I figured we’d talk about her plant-based advocacy at the University of Florida, where she is an assistant professor of medicine and Director of Integrative Cardiology and Prevention.We got there, eventually, but took a fascinating detour into the gender politics of medicine, and cardiology in particular. 

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The Six Words that Killed the American Health System with Josh Luke: PYP 310

February 19, 2019

Dr Josh Luke was enjoying his career in sports marketing when his grandmother got sick. He watched in amazement and frustration at the way she was treated when she didn’t have the money for the treatments prescribed.

He saw the lack of communication and coordination among different nodes in the system. He saw the avoidable pain and suffering, and decided sports marketing wasn’t important to him anymore.

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Unleashing Nurses to Revolutionize Patient Care with Caroline Trapp, DNP: PYP 300

December 11, 2018

Caroline Trapp, DNP (that’s Doctor of Nursing Practice to you and me), is the director of diabetes education and care with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), as well as a nurse practitioner with Premier Internists in Southfield, Michigan.

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“People Are Ready to Heal” with Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams: PYP 297

November 20, 2018
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2016. Unwilling to surrender his health destiny to the medical profession, Adams did some research, adopted a plant-based diet, lost 30 pounds, and reversed his condition. And he didn’t stop there. Instead, he committed to making Brooklyn into Ground Zero for healthy living. Read More

A Community Effort: PCRM Comes to the North Carolina Triangle: PYP 293

October 23, 2018

This weekend, the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is bringing its big guns to my neck of the woods, the Triangle region of North Carolina (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill).

Neal Barnard, Suzie Amis Cameron, Eric O’Grey, and others will be bringing their messages of hope and inspiration and information to my community. But PCRM also highlights local heroes – the folks who do good work in this community every day.

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Hi, I’m Howard Jacobson, host of the Plant Yourself Podcast, co-author of You Can Change Other People and Sick to Fit, and co-founder of WellStart Health Coach Academy.

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