{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"An Unlikely Alliance to Lower Healthcare Costs","description":"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\u2019 health insurance\u2014but 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\u2019s 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\u2014Washington Post&amp;nbsp;   The New Reality Facing Medicare, Medicaid, and the ACA\u2014Public 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:   @\u200cPublicHealthPod on Bluesky   @\u200cPublicHealthPod on Instagram   @\u200cJohnsHopkinsSPH on Facebook   @\u200cPublicHealthOnCall 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. ","author_name":"Public Health On Call","author_url":"https:\/\/publichealth.jhu.edu\/headlines\/public-health-on-call-podcast","html":"<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>","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/assets.libsyn.com\/secure\/content\/202815960"}