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The midterm elections are over. But for Americans struggling to afford medical care, the biggest questions remain unanswered.
Family health insurance premiums now average approximately $28,000 annually for employer-sponsored coverage, up 26% in five years. Workers are paying more in premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses, while millions of Americans are cutting back on basic necessities to afford the care they need.
In this episode of Medicine: The Truth, co-hosts Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr examine the healthcare affordability crisis that helped shape the 2026 midterm elections, and the difficult choices awaiting the newly sworn-in Congress in January.
Dr. Pearl explores a striking contradiction in voter attitudes. Americans across party lines overwhelmingly agree that healthcare needs major reform. But they disagree sharply over government’s role, the merits of Medicare for All and how much choice they’re willing to surrender in exchange for lower costs. The challenge, Pearl explains, is that Americans want comprehensive coverage, affordable prices and freedom to choose their care.
Delivering all three has, so far, proven impossible.
While politicians debate solutions, the financial pressure continues. The hosts examine how rising medical expenses are affecting workers, why Americans pay far more than people in other wealthy nations despite worse outcomes, and what a recent analysis of common orthopedic procedures reveals about the value of medical interventions.
Also in this episode:
- The 2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine: How three scientists pioneered optogenetics, a technique that uses light to activate or inhibit neurons.
- AI’s growing clinical impact: New research associates AI-powered hospital alerts with lower inpatient mortality, while a pilot program involving Google’s AMIE chatbot finds promising results when AI interviews patients before primary care visits.
- America’s worsening measles outbreak: With cases and deaths rising, Pearl warns about declining vaccination rates and the risks posed to infants who depend on herd immunity.
- More Americans losing healthcare coverage: Why millions face disappearing insurance options, rising out-of-pocket expenses and the prospect of delaying necessary treatment.
- The soaring cost of new medicines: A new analysis finds that roughly one-quarter of recently launched drugs carry net prices exceeding $500,000, intensifying disputes over access and affordability.
Listen to this episode of Medicine: The Truth for the latest medical headlines, scientific advances and a closer look at the affordability challenge confronting American healthcare.
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Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of “ChatGPT, MD: How AI-Empowered Patients & Doctors Can Take Back Control of American Medicine” about the impact of AI on the future of medicine.
Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Spotify or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on X and LinkedIn.