204 - Exercise Pill, Cancer Vaccine, Blood-Draw Robots and the Future of Healthcare

Vic and guest host Paul Kappleman discuss the state of U.S. healthcare under the Trump administration, including access, affordability, hospital closures, consolidation, and the potential rise of Medicare for All. They examine weakening retail sales, interest rates, $40 trillion in U.S. debt, healthcare venture capital, at-home sleep apnea diagnosis, pancreatic cancer screening, primary care, FDA leadership and AI-enabled medical devices, Medicaid asset limits, Costco entering Medicare, Providence Health Plan's exit, and Moderna's personalized cancer vaccine. They also cover an exercise pill, patient access to test results, Bitcoin and the CLARITY Act, robotic blood draws, Epic's AI platform, OpenAI's new protections for teens and enterprise users, and Amazon's expansion of drone delivery.1 — In This Economy17:09 - U.S. Retail Sales Fell 0.6% in July to $763.6 Billion, Missing Forecasts for Growth  WSJ17:26 - Fed Minutes Reveal Broader Support for Rate Increases WSJ17:56 - U.S. Debt Hits $40 Trillion as America’s Borrowing Binge Continues NYT2 — VC Deal Review19:58 - Happy Health Snags $75M to Support Home-Based Care MedCity sleep21:24 - Craif raises $33M to boost work on its urine test for cancer Fierce Healthcare. Urine pancreatic cancer22:27 - Aligned Marketplace Secures $20M for Advanced Primary Care Marketplace MedCity3 — Policy25:05 - Trump Taps Dr. Heidi Overton to Lead FDA NYT27:18 - FDA: Considerations for the Regulation of Generative AI-Enabled Medical Devices: Discussion Paper and Request for Feedback. Reg.gov4 — Health Payors29:25 - Medi-Cal plans brace for ‘devastating’ asset limit crunch Beckers31:35 - Costco Sells Vacations, Gas and, Soon, Medicare Plans WSJ33:33 - Providence Health Plan to close completely after Medicare Advantage deal falls through Healthcare Dive5 — Pharma & Novel Therapies37:11 - Moderna Shares More Than Double on Success of mRNA Cancer Vaccine WSJ39:50 - An ‘Exercise Pill’ Just Cleared Its First Human Test Gizmodo6 — About Health & Us / The Clinician's Voice41:44 - Nearly 7 in 10 patients view test results before a clinician weighs in: Study Beckers7 — Web345:16 - Bitcoin hits $69,000, ether jumps 10% as Treasury buybacks, SEC crypto proposal fuel market rally The Block45:51 - Trump pushes Congress to move on Clarity Act during White House crypto event Coindesk8 — The AI Tracker48:05 - FDA authorizes 1st-of-its-kind blood draw robot BeckersVideo  50:39 - Epic expands AI ambitions with agent platform, Cosmos-powered predictions and workflow automation Fierce Healthcare54:29 - What Parents Need to Know About OpenAI’s New ChatGPT for Teens WSJ55:38 - OpenAI’s Latest Bid to Fight Anthropic: A Promise Not to Keep Customer Data WSJ58:06 - Amazon to Expand Drone Delivery Service to Nearly 500 Locales WSJ