Episode
An Unlikely Alliance to Lower Healthcare Costs
- Podcast
- Public Health On Call
- Published
- Jun 10, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1059
- Processing state
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Summary
About this episode: Two health policy experts could not disagree more about the Affordable Care Act. Yet they're working together to tackle what they see as a root cause of unaffordability. In this episode: A 1954 change to federal tax code made employer-provided health benefits tax-free, incentivizing employers to cover workers' health insurance—but this policy is one explanation for high healthcare costs for Americans today. Guests: Michael F. Cannon , JM, MA, is the director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute. Elizabeth Fowler , PhD, JD, is a distinguished scholar in Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Host: Dr. Josh Sharfstein is distinguished professor of the practice in Health Policy and Management , a pediatrician, and former secretary of Maryland's Health Department. He served as the Baltimore City Commissioner of Health from 2005 to 2009. Show links and related content: This policy is at the root of unaffordable health care —Washington Post The New Reality Facing Medicare, Medicaid, and the ACA —Public Health On Call (August 2025) Transcript information: Looking for episode transcripts? Open our podcast on the Apple Podcasts app (desktop or mobile) or the Spotify mobile app to access an auto-generated transcript of any episode. Closed captioning is also available for every episode on our YouTube channel. Contact us: Have a question about something you heard? Looking for a transcript? Want to suggest a topic or guest? Contact us via email or visit our website . Follow us: @PublicHealthPod on Bluesky @PublicHealthPod on Instagram @JohnsHopkinsSPH on Facebook @PublicHealthOnCall on YouTube Here's our RSS feed Note: These podcasts are a conversation between the participants, and do not represent the…