The Checkup with Doctor Mike - Healthcare Costs, Women’s Health, & The Threat Of RKF Jr. | VP Kamala Harris

Episode Date: November 3, 2024

I'll teach you how to become the media's go-to expert in your field. Enroll in The Professional's Media Academy now: https://www.professionalsmediaacademy.com/ Listen to my podcast, The Checkup with Doctor Mike, here: Spotify: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/spotify/CheckUpSpotify Apple Podcasts: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/applepodcast/ApplePodcasts 00:00 Intro 00:45 Reproductive Rights 05:01 RFK Jr. 07:03 Processed Foods/Groceries 09:50 Reducing Costs Help us continue the fight against medical misinformation and change the world through charity by becoming a Doctor Mike Resident on Patreon where every month I donate 100% of the proceeds to the charity, organization, or cause of your choice! Residents get access to bonus content, an exclusive discord community, and many other perks for just $10 a month. Become a Resident today: https://www.patreon.com/doctormike Let’s connect: IG: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/instagram/DMinstagram Twitter: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/twitter/DMTwitter FB: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/facebook/DMFacebook TikTok: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/tiktok/DMTikTok Reddit: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/reddit/DMReddit Contact Email: [e-mail] Executive Producer: Doctor Mike Production Director and Editor: Dan Owens Managing Editor and Producer: Sam Bowers Editor and Designer: Caroline Weigum Editor: Juan Carlos Zuniga * Select photos/videos provided by Getty Images * ** The information in this video is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information, contained in this video is for general information purposes only and does not replace a consultation with your own doctor/health professional **

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Welcome to the Checkup podcast, where today I had the pleasure of speaking to Vice President Kamala Harris. I was curious to know about her plans surrounding health care costs, anti-science rhetoric, barriers to primary care, women's health, and the risks children face while eating overly processed foods for lunch. And while those topics are timely and important, at the end of the day, I'm a family medicine doctor, so I had to ask an important lifestyle question. Are you getting your seven to nine hours of sleep these days,

or it's too busy for that these days? Not really, but I will. I'll catch up. Do you believe in catching up on sleep, by the way? Yeah, absolutely. There's always a little bit of sleep debt that you could pay back. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, so I'll make up for it later.

Okay, fair. I'm excited to chat about health care policy because I work at a community health center. I work specifically at Atlantic Health System Overlook Medical Center where I have a lot of patients who are concerned specifically about women's rights. They're concerned about access to IVF, birth control, family planning, reproductive rights in general. What is your health care policy going to change and or protect for those individuals? Well, I'll start with the, I think, very important point that must be spoken. which is I trust women. I trust women to know what they need,

to ask for what they need, and to be able to make decisions about what they need in their best interest and not have their government tell them what to do. And so I start with that, and then doing everything in my power to ensure that women have the freedom to make those decisions unencumbered

by the kinds of laws that we've seen been passed since Donald Trump upended Roe versus Wade. I also believe it's very important that women have dignity in the health care system and that they are taken seriously. And so that is reproductive care, but that in general is women's health care. You know, my mother was actually a breast cancer researcher. So I grew up with a mother who was fighting constantly for the rights and dignity of women in the health care system. And it's obviously work that is still in progress in terms of ensuring that women have access to the resources they need to. make the decisions that are in the best interest of their health and well-being.

How does that tie into the topic of the fact that in the United States, we're at the top of the list and yet we're not anywhere near the top of the list when it comes to issues like maternal mortality, infant mortality, any plans on that health care policy front? Yes, absolutely. And actually, for example, maternal health policy. It's work that I've been doing for years, actually, since I was in the United States Senate, focused on what we need to do to get more resources to women and to health care providers to provide prenatal, pregnancy care, postpartum care, because to your point, we have the sad distinction as the United States of America of having one of the highest maternal mortality rates of any so-called wealthy nation.

And when you break it down demographically, black women are three to four times more likely to die in connection with childbirth. Native American women are twice as likely, rural women one and a half times likely. And it's a combination of issues that include, especially for black women, racial bias in the health care delivery system and native women, but also for rural women and all women, just having access to the care they need, meaning having clinics that are accessible to them, that are in their area, geographic area. You know, we have maternal health care deserts in America, meaning women have to travel for miles and miles. miles to get the health care they need. And God help them if they have a car or have, you know,

the gas money or have time to go from work and paid sick leave to be able to go from work and get that kind of health care. So it's a big issue. So my question is on the resources that we've got to put into it in terms of federal resources, but also creating a priority in terms of I've always used my platform as a way to elevate the issue to then also challenge states and local governments to do more. And specifically, I can talk about the fact that on postpartum care, when I became vice president, took a look at what the states were providing. And through Medicaid, they were only providing two months of postpartum care, only three of them. And I then issued a challenge to all states to extend Medicaid coverage for 12 months for postpartum care. And now, by last count,

46 states have done it. Yeah, I'm glad to hear that you're thinking about it from a systemic viewpoint, not just from a medical viewpoint. It's always exciting to have medical breakthroughs, but it's really these systemic changes that create barriers for my patients, as you said, about transportation of getting to their appointments, having clinic availability, feeling safe in the clinic at which they attend. So great to hear that those are all important issues for you. I did hear some concerning news that there could be a situation where an individual like RFK Jr. ends up at the head of a major health organization like HHS, CDC, FDA. I cannot say how concerning it is to use the words lightly for me as a primary care physician

to have someone who has spoken anti-science rhetoric in the past, denial of HIV infections, anti-vaccine stances to be mentioned in that space. Is that concerning for you? And how would you imagine that would play out in the reproductive space? Well, first of all, it's not going to happen because I intend to win this election. Let's start with that. And that is one of the reasons why I'm working so hard because I know the stakes. So Donald Trump has indicated that he would have RFK run women's health policy.

And we know, to your point, how that he has been very – well, you've said it. best and you're the medical professional. It has not been helpful to the medical profession to have him talk about health care the way he does. So I'm going to win the election, but it's going to be because everybody gets out and vote and they know what is at stake. And that includes not only that issue of who's running women's health for the federal government, but also the Affordable Care Act. Donald Trump had tried to get rid of it dozens of times when he was president. He intends to get rid of it again. That would cause millions and millions of people to lose their health care insurance. It could go back to a time when insurance companies could deny people with pre-existing

conditions. As you know, that meant breast cancer survivors. It meant pregnancy was a pre-existing condition, by the way, right? So these are all the things that are directly at risk because of this election. And these are the reasons that I'm fighting to make sure that we win. Platinum, access to exclusive Amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot trackside. So being a fan for life turns into the trip of a lifetime. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Pre-sale tickets for future events subject to availability and varied by race. Turns and conditions apply.

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And as a result, we're seeing record rates of obesity that are setting them up for worse health outcomes down the line. Are there any plans to perhaps bring down prices of these whole foods, groceries, making sure that they're widely available, even in areas where there may not be right now? Well, one area of focus for me is, without any question. In fact, it's my highest priority, is bringing down the cost of living, period, which includes the cost of groceries. One area of focus for me has been what we can do around price gouging, as an example, corporate price gouging. And as you know, you probably have a lot of people who watch you, who live in those states that were affected by Hurricane Haleen and Milton. And what I have experienced as a former Attorney General of California is during these

extreme emergency situations, there are predatory practices, including jacking up prices for things like food to take advantage of people who are in distress. So that's an area of focus. And then the work that we have to do is also just making sure. that we have expanded access to things like affordable child care, knowing that when a parent has to worry about having food on the table, healthy food on the table, paying rent, taking care of the other bills, it can be overwhelming. And child care is far too expensive in our country right now. My plan includes bringing down the cost of child care and also expanding the child tax

credit to $6,000, which among many things will focus on the first year of a child's life and doing what we can to help those young parents, again, take care of basic needs for their child during a fundamental phase of their development. Do you see a role for any of the federal or state or local programs to create a program to fund healthy foods as medicine? Do you see that as a potential priority of your health policy? I think that it is critically important that we, to your point, see the direct connection between a healthy diet and health outcomes. And at this point, I think it should not be debated by anyone. I hope it is not.

It is about then dealing with the problem because we know the solution. And so that's, again, about targeted resources for specific communities that need that kind of assistance. And I know you're thinking outside of the box because I've seen your stance on getting insulin, prices down, capping the amount of money one can spend on prescription drugs. I have, in my career, in particular, starting as Attorney General, taken on Big Pharma, the big pharmaceutical companies who and when they actually are putting profit over the health of the people that they should be helping and doing it in a way that it becomes prohibitive, which is that people who need medication to save their lives just can't afford it.

I believe that access to health care should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it. So that includes taking on the big pharmaceutical companies when they are violating basic principles. It also includes allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. And by doing that, we then allow us to not only bring down the cost of medication for the individual, but we also then bring down the cost to the taxpayer. So there are many benefits. And I think that's the point that I'll probably close on, which is that everyone benefits from each individual having access to health care. I don't think people fully understand the burden that it places on everyone, because we're going to pay for it.

It'll be in the emergency room. And, you know, I hope that we don't think about this in that regard. I hope we think about it from the perspective of just what is in the best interest of humanity. and morally right, which is that we don't want anyone to suffer from poor health, from acute illness. But understand we all pay the price one way or another when our fellow person is unable to get the care they need. Thank you so much, Madam Vice President. I appreciate you for how you it's your platform. Thank you. Stay happy and healthy. Okay, and you. Thank you. Take care. The Vice President and I got to touch on some of the problems facing our food system here in the U.S.

I actually went deep into this topic with a pioneer in the food science space, Marion Nessel. Check out the episode if you want to learn more about how the food companies are preying on us. Also, if you like the episode, please give this a five-star review, as it helps us find a new audience. And as always, stay happy and healthy. Calling all Booklovers, the Toronto International Festival of Authors brings you a world of stories all in one place. Discover five days of readings, talks, workshops and more with over 100 authors from around the world including Rachel Maddow, Coutourou Isaku and Kieran Desai

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