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How to fix health care without Medicare for All Jul 15, 2026

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Medicare for All keeps dying in Congress. So what would actually get the major players to agree on universal coverage? Health care journalist Ken Terry returns to lay out a different model, one that keeps insurance companies in the system while putting primary care doctors back in charge of basic care. This episode is based on his article "A Medicare for All alternative that keeps insurers in," published on KevinMD. You will learn why he believes Medicare for All is a political non-starter and how a two-part financing system could split basic care from major medical coverage. He explains why rewriting corporate practice of medicine laws to free primary care doctors from hospital and corporate employers sits at the center of his plan. You will also hear how independent primary care groups competing on cost and quality could raise physician pay through waste reduction, on a five-year path from here to there. Press play to hear how universal coverage might be reached without cutting the industry out.

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Why doctors hide their own depression until it nearly breaks them Jul 14, 2026

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For 23 years, an emergency physician stayed calm in the chaos and held the line. Then one night he sat in the hospital parking lot, unable to start his car and drive home. In this episode, Kenneth Scott Burnham shares how depression crept up on him gradually, how his clinical training gave him the tools to deny it for years, and what he learned once he was the patient instead of the doctor. He explains why the health care system is good at stabilizing people in crisis but nearly indifferent to what comes next, where the long wait for care and the gap between knowing what to do and being able to do it is where recovery is won or lost. This episode is based on his article "The real work starts after a mental health crisis," published on KevinMD. You will hear why asking for help is a clinical act rather than a personal failing, and why the crisis is the turning point, not the end of the story.

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Why the cure for physician burnout is seeing fewer patients Jul 13, 2026

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For 15 years, a primary care physician saw more than 22 patients a day and slowly lost herself to exhaustion. It followed her home every night and onto every vacation. In this episode, Jerina Gani explains how she broke that cycle by doing the opposite of what administrators push: she saw fewer patients, gave each one more time, and found her life again. The counterintuitive twist is that slowing down did not cost her money. By billing more accurately and resolving problems in a single visit, she ended up earning more than she did full time. You will hear why "see more patients" is the wrong answer for doctors and patients alike, how to make the case for a lighter schedule even inside a rigid corporate system, and why she believes primary care will keep losing physicians until the grind changes. This episode is based on her article "Physician burnout is quietly costing doctors themselves," published on KevinMD. Press play to hear how slowing down gave a doctor both a life and a livelihood.

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How credentialing fears harm physician mental health Jul 10, 2026

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Clinicians are treated as invincible, so when their own mental health suffers, many stay silent. Namit Choksi, a physician entrepreneur and health care executive, joins to explain how credentialing forms and a culture that treats wellbeing as a perk push doctors to hide depression, anxiety, and substance use until they reach a breaking point. You will hear why disclosing a behavioral health condition can threaten a clinician's malpractice and life insurance and trigger a fit-for-duty review, why this fear creates a vicious circle that hospitals only notice once it is too late, and why losing a single clinician can cost more than a million dollars. Choksi also explains why legacy assistance programs fall short, with visit caps, long waits, and rotating counselors, and what confidential, barrier-free support looks like instead. This episode is based on his article "How credentialing and culture impact physician mental health," published on KevinMD. You will come away understanding what institutions must change to keep their clinicians from suffering in silence.

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Why medicine makes doctors feel they are never enough Jul 09, 2026

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Clinicians are pushed to do more with less, until many quietly conclude they are not enough. J. C. Sue, a family medicine physician and adjunct faculty member, returns to unpack where that belief comes from and why it does so much damage across medical school, residency, and practice. You will hear how the business side of medicine and a competitive training culture teach doctors that they must be perfect, why serving beyond your real limits leaves patients, employers, and clinicians all worse off, and what a healthier reframe sounds like: you are human, not infinite, and that is enough. Hsu also walks through how to recover after an inevitable mistake, from acknowledging the feelings to separating human error from a faulty system to giving yourself grace. This episode is based on his article "Medical mistakes happen and you are still enough," published on KevinMD. You will come away with a kinder, more honest way to talk to yourself when medicine asks for more than any one person can give.

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Why patient engagement platforms must reduce staff burden Jul 08, 2026

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Orthopedic surgeon Kevin J. Campbell discusses the article "Understanding Generation 2 patient engagement platforms." Kevin discusses the article through a practical distinction between first-generation patient engagement tools that increase access but also increase staff workload, and second-generation platforms designed to answer routine patient questions without pulling every message into an inbox. He explains why portals, apps, messaging systems, and automated content often fail when they turn staff into message processors, and why the next generation of platforms must be built around clinical protocols, physician preferences, clear escalation boundaries, and staff-relieving workflows. This episode explores patient engagement, patient portals, health care technology, surgical communication, staff burden, practice efficiency, and the difference between digital access and true operational leverage. It is a useful conversation about how technology should support patient care without simply making it easier for work to find already overwhelmed teams.

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Numbness after a mastectomy no one warns you about Jul 07, 2026

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Most women lose feeling in their chest after a mastectomy, and almost no one warns them ahead of time. Emily Hansen, a patient advocate who has spent nearly two decades in health care communication working with surgeons and breast cancer survivors, joins to explain a consequence of survivorship that stays largely hidden. You will learn why loss of sensation is nearly universal after mastectomy, why nerves are among the slowest tissues in the body to recover, and why patients so often feel guilty raising it with the surgeons who saved their lives. Hansen describes the real safety risks that follow, from burns to injuries patients never feel, along with the impact on intimacy that rarely gets discussed. This episode is based on her article "Living with numbness after mastectomy: the unseen impact on survivorship," published on KevinMD. You will come away with the specific questions every patient should ask before surgery and how the whole care team can raise this earlier.

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Why your treatment plan falls apart after you leave the doctor Jul 06, 2026

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Most doctor visits do not fail in the room. They fail after you walk out, holding a plan and no clear idea of when something has gone wrong enough to call back. In this episode, retired surgeon and patient advocate Alan P. Feren explains why "call me if it gets worse" is not real guidance, and what clear instructions actually look like. He argues that sharing responsibility with patients only works when both sides share clarity, because a threshold no one defined is one no patient can act on. You will hear why patients delay care when they are unsure what counts as worse, why feasibility, whether a plan is actually doable for that person, matters as much as the plan itself, and the three things every clinician should name before a patient leaves. This episode is based on his article "Shared responsibility in patient care needs boundaries," published on KevinMD. Press play to hear how to turn a vague plan into one a patient can follow.

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How fear of the stock market quietly costs doctors a million dollars Jul 03, 2026

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Doctors spend over a decade training and then quietly leave a fortune on the table when they handle their own money. In this episode, economics professor Hernan Moscoso Boedo explains why high income and years of schooling do not make physicians good investors. He compares the way doctors avoid the stock market to the way some people distrust vaccines, not because they understand the science, but because they do not trust the system protecting them. This episode is based on his article "Why your doctor invests like a vaccine skeptic," published on KevinMD. You will hear why physicians invest like people who earn half as much, why so many default to real estate, and how overconsumption, high advisory fees, and poor allocation can cost roughly 29 percent of retirement wealth. You will also hear his practical fix: open a brokerage account, start small, and let a simple diversified fund compound. Press play to hear why the money doctors lose is money they earned, and how little it takes to keep it.

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Why physicians stay in jobs they could afford to leave Jul 02, 2026

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Most physicians who feel stuck in a job could actually afford to leave. They just can't stomach what the worst week might look like. Stanley Liu, cardiologist and fiduciary financial planner, discusses the KevinMD article "Physician career choices come down to risk tolerance." You will hear the gap between risk capacity (what your finances can actually absorb) and risk tolerance (what you can emotionally accept), why the two are not the same, and how the "first do no harm" reflex bleeds from clinical decisions into career decisions. He walks through the specific moves that make a worst-case scenario acceptable: a reserve fund, a debt payoff plan, proactive tax planning. He also explains why this conversation belongs in the family before it belongs on a resume, and how the spectrum of options is wider than physicians are trained to see. You will hear two failure modes to avoid: the rage-quit that lands in a worse job, and the five-year delay in a job you could have left long ago.

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