Conversations on Health Care

As we celebrate America’s birthday, we should recognize that the founders also revolutionized public health when they formed the United States.   What influenced their thinking and how do these actions still affect health care today? Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter explore these questions with Jeanne Abrams, author of “Revolutionary Medicine: The Founding Fathers and Mothers […] The post America’s Health Story: 250 Years of Innovation appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

“What is at stake is whether people stay alive, stay in care, stay on medications, stay virally suppressed…these cuts will reverse all the progress we’ve made to date toward ending the HIV epidemic.”  That’s the eye-opening view from Dr. Marwan Haddad as he assesses potential multi-million-dollar cuts to America’s HIV efforts. Dr. Haddad is the […] The post HIV Funding in Jeopardy: What’s at Stake appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

When we first featured a guest discussing GLP-1 therapies, the public’s understanding of these drugs to treat obesity was still developing. In 2023, our expert was Dr. Jamy Ard, the then-incoming president of The Obesity Society. Even then, Dr. Ard was stressing that more choices would lower prices for consumers. We look back on that […] The post GLP-1 Therapies: Where We’ve Been & Where We’re Going appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

Guess what all the following have in common? They are all now available and widely used because of an important step lawmakers in Washington took over 45 years ago. Co-host Margaret Flinter says, “This is the biggest legislative success story that we’ve never heard of.” Join her and co-host Mark Masselli as they discover how […] The post How a Bill on Capitol Hill Spurred a Health Revolution appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

In one month, we’ll celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s founding. But among the fireworks and festivities, a serious point may get overlooked:  The founders also revolutionized public health when they formed the United States. What influenced their thinking and how do these actions still affect health care today? Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter […] The post Red, White & You: Your Health & How America’s Founding Made It Better appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

Researchers are “fetching” new discoveries about the incredible benefits pets and animals provide for human health. Steven Feldman, a proud feline father, is at the center of these efforts as the president of the Human Animal Bond Research Institute. “Most people probably have a feeling that their pets are good for them, and we’re the […] The post ‘Fur’ Our Health: New Pet-Human Bond Research appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

Right before many of us get ready for a long weekend of hot dogs and potato chips, two health public policy experts are shaking up what we think we know about food. Study after study has found that ultra-processed foods are linked to “heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, depression, anxiety, and early death, even […] The post Hot Dogs, Jello, Waffle House: Time to Rethink ‘Bad’ Foods? appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

For more than five decades, Craig Robinson has helped shape the future of community health in West Virginia and beyond. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter talk with the longtime executive director of Cabin Creek Health Systems to reflect on a career spent expanding access to care in rural communities, building innovative community health models, and […] The post How a West Virginia Community Health Center Leader Inspires the Country appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

The authors of a new book reveal that former President Obama told them that he had an “inability to boil issues down to their essence, to tell a story…” and explained how it hurt him as he tried to pass the Affordable Care Act. This insight and others are at the core of Dr. David […] The post What Fmr. President Obama Told Our Guests About His Big Health Care Misstep appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

A nurse in a Baltimore laundromat might be testing one of the most important ideas in American health care: what if care started before you ever needed the emergency room? Organizations from NPR to the Milbank Memorial Fund are closely watching the Neighborhood Nursing program that the top-ranked Johns Hopkins School of Nursing has brought […] The post The Nurse at the Laundromat: An Innovative Model appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.

Originally broadcast April 22, 2025 Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the U.S. will phase out the remaining eight artificial food dyes from America’s food supply within two years. This is a move that leading nutritionist and author Marion Nestle, Ph.D., has long advocated for. “Conversations on Health Care” hosts […] The post Breaking News: Food Dye Ban: Support But More Needed, Says Dr. Marion Nestle appeared first on Healthy Communities Online.