1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 About this episode:&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Two health policy experts could not disagree more about the Affordable Care Act. Yet they're working together to tackle what they see as a root cause of unaffordability. In this episode:&amp;nbsp;A 1954 change to federal tax code&amp;nbsp;made employer-provided health benefits tax-free,&amp;nbsp;incentivizing employers to cover workers’ health insurance—but this policy is one explanation for high healthcare costs for Americans today.&amp;nbsp; Guests:&amp;nbsp; Michael F. Cannon, JM, MA, is the director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute.&amp;nbsp; Elizabeth Fowler, PhD, JD, is a distinguished scholar in Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.&amp;nbsp; Host:&amp;nbsp; Dr. Josh Sharfstein is distinguished professor of the practice in Health Policy and Management, a pediatrician, and former secretary of Maryland’s Health Department. He served as the Baltimore City Commissioner of Health from 2005 to 2009.&amp;nbsp; Show links and related content:&amp;nbsp; This policy is at the root of unaffordable health care—Washington Post&amp;nbsp; The New Reality Facing Medicare, Medicaid, and the ACA—Public Health On Call (August 2025)&amp;nbsp; Transcript information: Looking for episode transcripts? Open our podcast on the Apple Podcasts app (desktop or mobile) or the Spotify mobile app to access an auto-generated transcript of any episode. Closed captioning is also available for every episode on our YouTube channel. Contact us: Have a question about something you heard? Looking for a transcript? Want to suggest a topic or guest? Contact us via email or visit our website. Follow us: @‌PublicHealthPod on Bluesky @‌PublicHealthPod on Instagram @‌JohnsHopkinsSPH on Facebook @‌PublicHealthOnCall on YouTube Here's our RSS feed Note: These podcasts are a conversation between the participants, and do not represent the position of Johns Hopkins University. Public Health On Call https://publichealth.jhu.edu/headlines/public-health-on-call-podcast <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/41590240/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/content/202815960