The Weekly Briefing

In the final episode of the Weekly Briefing for 2015, Dan, Rivka, and Rob take listener questions on whether fee-for-service is really going to die (starts at the 1:30 mark), if safety-net hospitals are doomed (9:30), the biggest unsolved problems in health care (16:00), if the health care industry is accurately portrayed by the media (25:00), what the next president will mean for health care (28:30), and the secrets of how they make the podcast (30:45).

Dan, Rivka, and Rob recap the year in health care and run through four of the biggest trends: Payer and provider consolidation (starts at the 3:45 mark), payment transformation (15:20), the growing role of tech firms (22:55), and consumerism (36:00). Then stick around for the last Electives of the year, including articles from two of our favorite authors and a different way to watch one classic holiday movie.

Congress just agreed to a massive $1.1 trillion budget deal — with major implications for health care — and Dan, Rivka, and Rob break it down.(Starts at the 3:30 mark.) Then they're joined by Anne Filipic, the head of Enroll America, to discuss how this year's open enrollment period is going. (16:25.) And stick around until the end for the most emotional electives yet. (32:50.)NOTICE: We're doing an episode that's entirely listener Q&A, and we'd love to take your questions on the air! Email us at

More than 30,000 people die every year because of gun violence, and Dan, Rivka, and Rob discuss whether it makes sense to think about gun control as a public health issue. (Starts at 2:05.) They also debate the rising cost of pharmaceutical drugs and whether we're paying too much attention to Sovaldi and Martin Shkreli. (Starts at 17:25.) And they close the show with their electives, including their accidental tribute to the New York Times Upshot blog. (Starts at 26:15.)