{"podcast":{"title":"Care Talk with Laura Packard: American Health Care Explained","slug":"care-talk-with-laura-packard-american-health-care-explained-6733935","podcast_index_feed_id":6733935,"rss_url":"https://feeds.redcircle.com/f4520de0-f5b9-4ba9-b510-a517553cf327","website_url":"https://redcircle.com/shows/care-talk-with-laura-packard","image_url":"https://media.redcircle.com/images/2025/3/6/21/1b20a5ec-5f79-4214-adfb-8342e70642bf_89-432b-ac37-0896c9280205_caretalk_podcast_art.jpg","author":"Laura Packard","episode_count":132,"summary":"American health care is broken. But that doesn't mean it needs to break you. With the help of some friends, we can make sense of it all and come out stronger. Join Laura Packard, cancer survivor and health care advocate, each week on Care Talk as she brings policy experts to answer your questions on Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, private insurance, and more. We help patients and families navigate America's health insurance and health care systems, and explain topics in-depth from how to fight medical bills to lowering the cost of healthcare in America. New episodes every Tuesday. CALL/TEXT IN YOUR QUESTIONS FOR FUTURE EPISODES ‪(202) 838-6837‬.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-16T22:17:30.277798+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/care-talk-with-laura-packard-american-health-care-explained-6733935"},"episode":{"title":"Hospital Mergers Are Making Your Healthcare Bills Explode w/ Natasha Murphy, Center for American Progress","slug":"hospital-mergers-are-making-your-healthcare-bills-explode-w-natasha-murphy-center-for-american-progress","published_at":"2026-06-16T10:00:17+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/care-talk-with-laura-packard-american-health-care-explained-6733935/hospital-mergers-are-making-your-healthcare-bills-explode-w-natasha-murphy-center-for-american-progress","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/care-talk-with-laura-packard-american-health-care-explained-6733935","url":"https://healthcarevoices.org/caretalk","audio_url":"https://audio4.redcircle.com/episodes/4e498619-1dae-40e8-8568-d2cedcd6bc2b/stream.mp3","summary":"Why is healthcare so expensive in America? Hospital mergers are driving up your health care bills - and the data proves it. Natasha Murphy at Center for American Progress breaks down how hospital consolidation hands Big Hospital the power to charge you whatever they want in this #CareTalk episode with show host, cancer survivor, and health care advocate Laura Packard from Health Care Voices . Plus Louise Norris from healthinsurance.org and Diane Archer from Just Care answer your American health insurance and health care questions on Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, private insurance and more. This episode has more about a judge's ruling on Affordable Care Act marketplace changes for next year, a Medicare Advantage plan that handled charges incorrectly, proposed rule changes on Medicaid eligibility for next year, and whether or not vision insurance is a good deal. New episodes of Care Talk every Tuesday, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Text or call in your health insurance and health care questions in to (202) 838-6837 to get answers in future shows! Free or Low Cost Health Care Resources on our show page: https://healthcarevoices.org/caretalk","meta_description":"Why is healthcare so expensive in America? Hospital mergers are driving up your health care bills - and the data proves it. Natasha Murphy at Center for A…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1739,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/care-talk-with-laura-packard-american-health-care-explained-6733935/episodes/hospital-mergers-are-making-your-healthcare-bills-explode-w-natasha-murphy-center-for-american-progress/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/care-talk-with-laura-packard-american-health-care-explained-6733935/hospital-mergers-are-making-your-healthcare-bills-explode-w-natasha-murphy-center-for-american-progress.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}