Talking Walmart, UnitedHealth, Amazon and more with John Gorman

The Trump administration is sending mixed signals to health insurers, pushing controversial changes to the ACA markets while giving big pay bumps in Medicare Advantage. Meanwhile, companies like UnitedHealth, Walmart and even Amazon are circling deals that could shake up the industry. To make sense of this moment, this week’s PULSE CHECK features John Gorman, the head of the Gorman Health Group — one of Washington’s most thoughtful experts on the health care industry and government health programs. John sits down with POLITICO’s Dan Diamond to discuss why he left government to open his own consulting firm (starts at the 1:25 mark), the growth of Medicare Advantage (5:30), the state of private insurers and the rise of UnitedHealth (8:30), the CVS-Aetna deal (15:45), Walmart-Humana’s possible deal and Amazon’s looming presence (20:00), the Trump administration’s impact on insurers (22:20), and a quiet change to Medicare Advantage that could let health plans tackle social determinants of health (28:15). We'd appreciate your help: Please share PULSE CHECK and rate us on your favorite podcast app! Have questions, suggestions or feedback? Email [email protected]. Referenced on the podcast: Zach Tracer’s Bloomberg story on UnitedHealth’s physician acquisitions: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-09/30-000-strong-and-counting-unitedhealth-gathers-a-doctor-army POLITICO’s Darius Tahir and Paul Demko reported on the CVS-Aetna deal: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/04/aetna-cvs-merger-drugs-205514 Dan’s look at Walmart’s potential purchase of Humana: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-pulse/2018/03/30/walmart-might-buy-humana-what-it-means-154555 Incoming AHIP leader Matt Eyles’s PULSE CHECK interview on the insurance industry and the Trump administration: https://simplecast.com/s/4e376b02 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices