The Checkup with Doctor Mike - Most Shark Tank Health Pitches Are Scams | Barbara Corcoran

Episode Date: January 4, 2023

Watch me and Barbara guess the cost of GOOP healthcare items here: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/youtube/BarbaraCorcoranMain Barbara Corcoran is a world-class investor, real estate agent, and original Shark on the hit TV show "Shark Tank". She sat down with me today to discuss her surprise cancer diagnosis, her daughter's scare at the ER, her son's potential genital surgery, and why I should take over for Dr. Oz? It's a fun one to say the least, and I couldn't be more thrilled with how fun Barbara is on mic and in real life! Executive Producer and Host: Dr. Mike Varshavski Produced by Dan Owens and Sam Bowers Art by Caroline Weigum CONTACT: [e-mail]

The only one who buys the whole business out is Mark Cuban because he's the only billionaire. We can't afford to buy these businesses out right out. He's the only guy that makes that offer. Who is your favorite one to work with? Barbara Corcoran, world-renowned investor, real estate, mogul, Shark Tank Extraordinaire has actually appeared on every season of Shark Tank for its entire 13 seasons. We sit down and have a conversation about her health, her surprise cancer diagnosis. She even shares her favorite shark.

There's a lot of juicy details here. Hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. You mentioned that I should take over Dr. Oz's spot. Obviously, you're the only one. I'm the only one. No, really? You're the only one out there. Yeah, there's not many doctors in media.

But when you say yes to TV network overlords, and I'm actually curious to your opinion on this, I feel like you give up a huge layer of control. Of the show itself? Yes. But not of what you do outside the show. You still do all your regular stuff. You just have an add-on.

The issue is they might, the producers, they, who take orders from the network execs, might tell you to talk about a topic or promote a topic or promote a product that I'm not ethically in line with. And I have a huge problem. That's why I started my YouTube channel because I wanted to fight against that kind of nonsense, the snake oil stuff. That makes great sense, but you're overthinking it. Really? They wouldn't have you promote something you don't believe in. They would suggest topics for the sake of entertainment. But if you were uncomfortable with anything, you're the boss. I wish. So you remember, I can't probably say the name of the show.

Let's say I was offered a syndicated nationwide network TV show. Like Nate Berkus. Is that what you're thinking of? I don't know who that is. He's a very well-known designer. And he exactly had that experience you're talking about. So let's say I had this offer. The contract was ready.

The filming days were ready. The studio was prepared. My hospital cleared me for everything. And then in the contract, they refused to change one word where it went from like meaningful say in sponsorships to reasonable say. Some, like, word changed. And you walked away on that basis?

Yeah, because my lawyer told me that what it changed was, there were three producers of the show, me, the producer and the owner of the show. Yeah. And they could overrule me then. Yeah, but what if? Think of the practicality. First of all, attorneys are meant to tell you

where the stoplights are, right? That's their job. So you throw that to the side and think about it on your own. Think about what you could do. You could just say, I'm not talking about it. They're going to fire you in the show? No.

No, so they had a solution. And here was their solution. we'll bring on other doctors to read the sponsorships. And I'm like, great. So I'm going to have misinformation on my own show from other doctors. Because I actively talk about those things negatively on my YouTube channel and say, they're tricking you, they're misleading you. And then I'm going to have someone come on to doctor my show and say,

but I'm telling you again, when you're sitting in the seat and you're doing the show and you've got the billings, not the billings, you've got the audience, you're in charge. In the end, they're in a practical way. So you are overthinking it. You should just do it. Well, now I don't have that. Now the show's canceled, so. Well, well, guess what?

Why don't you pitch you doing? Well, we are. I promise we are. Did you go to the same producers? No. First stop. Bring it back. It's possible.

But I'm curious why you don't think a YouTube channel is just as important or just as big as one of those opportunities. It's much bigger, except it doesn't pay as well. I think you're, and I'm going to. Wrong? Pleasantly disagree. You're wrong. Am I?

Because a lot of. of times people think social media pays in a certain way, but I think if you do it the right way, just like running any other business, you can do quite well? Like, do you think it's reasonable to say that you can earn eight figures a year as a YouTuber? Give me an example of an eight number. Tens of millions of dollars. Is that reasonable to earn on TV? On TV, yes. Because it's syndicated overseas. But multiple seasons, not first season. You don't get it. Not one season. Yeah. You're making that one season of your stuff? Then I'm going to marry you. if you'll please have me i'll have no problems anymore never worry about the bills ever again

no but isn't that surprising that you think shocking yeah shocking are you making that stuff up no and we're also turning down 95% of sponsors i bet you're turning down marriage proposals even more no i wish i was i mean maybe from randoms there's one from me what do you say well okay i think we should do it on the podcast let's close it right now right now god you're such a good business person it's insane but i'm not making your kind of money no but i'm serious Like, isn't it crazy that social media you can do that? Yes, it is. You know what I'm going to do?

I am going to go in competition with you as a pretend doctor. Okay. There's plenty of those on social media. I'm going to try to make those kind of bucks. There's a lot of that on social media. Yeah, but isn't it a shame really for middle America, the little old ladies who are at home that they're not seeing in the morning TV show? Absolutely.

You've missed that whole demographic. Yeah. I was doing morning TV. I would do like the Kelly and Ryan's, the Rachel Rays of the world. I did those for a while. I actually had a recurring segment on Maria Bartaromo show. Morning Superia. Oh, you did.

I haven't seen that. Every Wednesday for three years, I did it. Wow. But I did not get nearly the amount of feedback, value, money, everything that we get from doing this show. But it wasn't your spot. It's an unfair comparison. Yes.

You know, this is your home, your spot. So people are going to talk to you and tell you what they think. Yeah. Look, it's beautiful. My favorite part about having this channel is that we're in control of what we talk about. No one can tell us, you got to talk about this. Absolutely. You got to sell this.

And it as you wish. And you have more liberty in saying words, thoughts, actions, you have a lot more. Yeah, no corporate, because I work in a corporate hospital system. Oh, boy. There's a lot of red tape. No wonder you're here. There's a lot of red tape. No, but I work pretty much as a volunteer in the hospital.

Oh, you do. So that's something I do out of fashion. He did one surgery a month, I think. I work three days a week in the hospital. So I'm not like doing it just for fun like that. I'm actually seeing patients a lot, like 40, 50 patients. I hope you phrased your fee. No.

People are going to come to you with no illness just to get to see you. Well, yeah, I want that. Oh, you want that? I'm a family medicine doctor. We've got to keep people healthy. It's not just about treating them when they're sick. Okay, but make sure the wives bring their husbands with them. Yes, because guys don't go to doctors.

No, it's not that. It's just so you don't get any embarrassing proposals while they're on the job. Well, that happens, but we live with that. Okay. I'm curious, you're a world-class investor. How have you invested in your own health? Working out. Okay.

Yeah. I'm fortunate I was born with a good body. It doesn't take much work out. I eat whatever I want, do whatever I want, but I work out three days a week, period. Okay. What do you do with the three days a week? Lift weights, push-ups, sit-ups, whatever, the usual on a mat. Mostly strength, training, resistance training.

No cardio stuff? No, no cardio. Well, I do jumping jacks. Is that cardio? That is cardio. Okay, then I do cardio too. So you're actually following the exact guidelines that we recommend in medicine. You know who I'm really following?

Margaret, the trainer. She didn't show up at the door. I wouldn't do a thing. Oh, okay. I don't like exercise. A lot of people like it. I can't stand it. I even set my clock ahead so I get out five minutes early.

She doesn't know. Why do you hate exercise? It makes you happy, makes you look younger, fitter. No, I love the results of exercising. But that one hour I dreaded. I dread it the night before. I don't want to get up out of the bed, but I put my sneakers right there. And I think, all I have to do is get my feet in those sneakers.

And I'll actually walk and meet Margaret. So you literally do everything by the book. We always say, start with the smallest challenge. And you just say, if I put my shoes on, I'm ready to. to go. Well, the rest takes care of itself, really. Is that like a life principle for you? I don't think it's that important or a life kind of a thing. I think it is. I put my feet in the sneakers.

Well, like, you have so many challenges. There's so many things you're taking on so much as a business. I've heard you've invested in like 80 businesses over the course. About 130 by now. Oh, 130. We never update it. We've got to update Wikipedia. What are they doing? So 1.30. That takes an enormous amount of work. Yeah, it does. A big team. But it takes more than anything. getting started and being committed.

And I guess that's an analogy for the sneakers, if you want to put it that way. Yeah, maybe I'm, I make sure I get started. I'm overreating into it. Yeah. What's been your relationship with your healthcare providers? Has it been positive, negative? Have you had terrible medical experiences? A mixed bag, you know?

I'm actually shopping for a concierge doctor for my husband, so maybe you could help me out there. Okay. I find that medical is all fine until you go to an emergency room. Okay. Then all bets are off. I recently was with my daughter who's 16 in an emergency room up in, Northern Massachusetts, I couldn't get a doctor to see her for 17 hours.

And I thought she was having appendicitis. What was she having? She had a uterine infection, but terrible pain. And she's not a hypochondriac at all. So was it like an upper one where it went into the kidneys? It went into the kidneys. Oh, wow. So that could get dangerous, right?

Very dangerous, yeah. Was she admitted for IV antibiotics or sent home? No. What happened was I finally took her off the bed and we walked out of the hospital and the doctor came out of the door after us. So just a minute. and he gave us the results of, I think, the urine tests, they two urine tests.

And he said, he told us what she had. And I said, can you give you a prescription? He said, yes, I can. We went back in the house, got the prescription. She never saw a doctor. It's amazing. Can I tell you something unique about urinary tract infections? Yes.

You don't need the test to find out. To diagnose it. It's a clinical diagnosis. So if the signs and symptoms are there, meaning you're having urgency, burning on urination, frequency, pressure, sensation, lower abdomen. You tap the back and do a physical exam and you have tenderness in the area of the lowest part of the ribs

called the cost-over-tibral angle. You have a diagnosis. So even a nurse or mother could do that. Well, yes, but I would leave the diagnosis to a physician just. We couldn't get a physician. Yeah, what was going on there? They must have had 400 people in the emergency ward. Yeah, they had.

So our health care system is trash. Oh, it's broken down in that sense. Well, you would know more about it than I. but I had my husband in the emergency room up at Mount Sinai Hospital and he was getting a drip into his arm and I was there for almost 45 minutes saying it's not dripping can you fix it? Can you fix it? No one paid attention. It's just terrible the emergency rooms. There's one in upstate New York, one in New York City

both within two weeks of each other. And they're all... I mean the problem is the numbers. Yes it is. And you know something that I'll call out our health care system on? And maybe even so our neighbors up north in Canada. The reason why I feel the government people are being so vocal about RSV, COVID, et cetera, is because they know our healthcare systems are teetering on the edge of collapsing. You feel so, my. And meaning I feel that they're saying these things because it's teetering that any stress,

whether it's more kids getting sick with RSV, which is not the most serious thing in the world, most cases, or right now the COVID variant that's going around is a little bit more manageable, but because it's going to overload our already overloaded healthcare system, that's why they're worried. That makes sense. And it's sad. It's more than sad. It's unfair. Yeah. We can't do a better job. It seems unbelievable to me. Yeah. How would you fix this business? I put, well, actually, how could you fix the business? I think it would have to be torn apart. Fire everyone. Fire all the doctors. Well, no, you'd have to really tear apart the parts and step away and with your imagination think, what would I envision being a perfect system and starting there versus editing?

But how do you start over? Like, do you close all the ERs? Like, practically speaking, you know? No, it's not practical. But that's why you're the doctor. You should know what I mean. The doctors don't solve problems. I don't invest in health systems at all.

So you've never invested in a health product? No, I never have, really. Oh, interesting. You know, I've done videos reacting to some of the Shark Tank pitches that people make of health products. Yeah. I get so mad. Some of them are such scams.

Oh, most of us scams. Absolutely. I'm not tested. Most of them are scams. And then businesses we haven't even seen on Shark Tank, they advertise like crazy and use the sharks as their poster boys. No. All the time constantly.

Really? Oh, for sure. Do your lawyers like go after them? No, because there's something to go after. There's a diet pill company out there. It's been advertising for four years. It must make millions a month by the way they're spending on all the social platforms. But the attorneys don't do anything because they close up the site and open somewhere else.

It's like whackable or whatever that old game was, you know. Wow, that's so sad. Because people fall for it. It's sad because so many people are giving their credit cards and signing up for the subscriptions, which is wrong. And I also heard you don't like fishing. No. How did you know I don't like fishing? So boring.

I don't think we're talking about the same fishing. Oh, what fishing do you mean? This is like a dirty joke that I'm not getting? I should have played along. I heard you may have been a victim of a fishing scam, pH. P.H. Fishing. Like an email scam where they almost stole $400,000 from you. Oh, that thing. That's all news.

Who even cares about it anymore? Well, I don't know. It sounds like it was important in your life because you almost lost $400,000. Or did you lose it? You know what was good about it? I didn't have any check systems in place in my business. Okay? If you got an email from me,

someone who's in charge of money or someone who's half in charge of money saying pay this bill the money went out okay now i have a system as simple as could be and we've avoided probably three scams sense you have to call the person and say did you send this email simple as that they're all phony and that's how i almost got taken for 400,000 well let's go back to the fishing then you don't like fishing itself i don't like fishing in fact when the producers at shark time colby up and said they were wondering if I'd be interested in a show called Shark Tank. I said, I don't like fishing. That's exactly what?

Did you, you said it in jest or did you think? No, I said it's, what did you remember, this was before Shark Tank. That's true. I would have known. What would you think it was? Shark Tank. Wouldn't you think it would be fishing? Yeah, I would think it's a fishing show.

Not business. Yeah, but then you would probably wonder, is like a real estate show? Like what, what? No, I just thought they were that they were calling the wrong person. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. That's funny. Yeah, because they have a broad.

different one with dragons right a dragons den is the same show owned by the japanese it's exact same show all over the world it's owned by the japanese Sony so if they pitched you dragons what would you that was uh no i would think it's a video i don't know what i don't know what i would have thought it was i wish they had had just called and said we're thinking of doing a great show i'm buying businesses are you in i would have said yes but as it turned out i signed the contract without even reading it contrary to you on the tv show without even reading it i said this is a chance let me take it it's going to build my media presence and then they changed your mind and de-hired me so such a thing is de-hired me yeah i mean i'm sure yeah well we created it now yeah they called me a week before

the secretary to the producer and said i'm sorry we've changed our mind we've chosen another woman i couldn't believe in my ears wow yeah wasn't that nasty i didn't even read the contract and you signed it already i signed it and i had my plane reservation and then i got angry and i sent a really good email saying you've made a mistake. Can I consider your rejection a compliment? And I'd like you to invite both women out to compete for the one sole female sheet. You did like a

chemistry thing. I did. And I told them everything that I had been written off on in my life from sister Stella Marie saying I was stupid to Donald Trump not want to pay his $4 million dollar commission. And I won every time. So I consider him a lucky charm. And I ask that I come out next Tuesday and compete for the seat. And he invited me. Wow. See how that is good. That is really good. On a fishing show, no less.

On a fishing show. Wow. It's a fishing show in a way with fishing for deals. You are, and you're eating the little fish. No, we're not. We're helping the little fish or rejecting them. Both, both in some cases. Some people need to be bought out and you need to eat the little fish because they're not.

The only one who buys a whole business out is Mark Kuhn because he's the only billionaire. We can't afford to buy these businesses out right out. He's the only guy that makes that offer. Who is your favorite one to work with? Work with. Like on the show. Work with, Mark. For sure. You know why he closes a deal fast?

He's no nonsense. He sees what you get. He doesn't fool around. He operates pretty much like I do. Yeah. You guys are my favorite charts. He's not my favorite shark, though. Oh, he's not. No, Damon is. Damon is a sweetheart. Yeah, I mean, Mark's second favorite. Damon is a sweetheart.

He's just a funny man. He's a darling man. Really? Yeah. Okay, that's good to know that you have rapport with both of them. In terms of Mark's BS detector, I got to give him props, because whenever I'm watching those health products, He's right away, he's like scam, bullshit. Yeah. And he's very vocal about it.

Yes, he is. But you know what he's not good at? What's that? He's not good at picking the good ones. Really? Yeah. He falls for the people and falls for the words. And I'm telling you, most of the deals Mark does, I sit there and they're, he shouldn't invest in them.

I could feel that they're wrong people. Wow. But let him spend the money. It's meaningless to lose a million or two. Well, when you have billions, I guess that's the case. It really is meaningless when you have billions. Do you know what a billion is? I know the difference between a billion seconds and a million seconds is drastic.

Yes, it is. You saw that little YouTube thing. Yeah, I do. I watch a lot of content. It's great. It's great. Yeah. But a million million, it is.

Is that right? It's a thousand million. Oh, I'm still wrong. Okay, thousand million. But it's still a lot. I think someone corrected me if I'm wrong. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, it's a ton.

Like a thousand million. What do you do with that? If I had a thousand dollars and you ask for a dollar, I'd say, sure. Yeah. So like. I'm investing on that show like $150,000. I'm thinking, do I like this guy enough to give him on 50? Mark's like, take a million.

I'll raise a bid. I want to win this bit. I'm like, win it. Go right ahead. Well, it's easy, again, when you have those numbers to play with. Shifting back to health, I heard you how to scare with a basal cell carcinoma. Yes, I did. Tell me about that.

I had built my business, sold it, and I worked so hard. It's such long hours building that business that I looked it. My face looked it. So I decided to have a face. left right after I sold my business. I was 46, went to the best surgeon in New York, checked everybody out, and I showed up at his office ready to make my appointment for the facelift, and he sent me to a cancer doctor. I was like, whoa, this wasn't supposed to go. Not a dermatologist. No, he looked at my face. I had been to three or four eye doctors.

They all said I had a clogged poor. They went on for five, six years. He looked at my face without even living closed and said, I'm sending him a cancer doctor. You have cancer on your eye. All right, that was the bad news. It wasn't what I expected. But then while I was at the cancer doctor, I realized this is real surgery that I need. And I got my eye liver free. I was so happy. You've hacked the health care system? Yeah, I didn't hack it.

No, but it was fair. No, no, I had cancer. It's not always bad. Yeah. I mean, there's like hacks. Like you put your sneakers in your bed. That's a hack. That's a hack?

Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. Well, on the internet now, anything's a hack. Oh, I don't know that. If you watch those like five-minute videos where they're like, oh, here's a way to hack your diet. I'm going to start using that. that term. I actually hate the term. Do you really? Because they use it in a scam way where like everything's a hack. Yes, yes. And also biohacking. I hate it. I'm sure that's dangerous.

Well, it's not dangerous. It's, it could be dangerous. A lot of people in the Silicon Valley space will say that they've figured out something doctors don't know and there's a device that you wear here and then on your chest and you track this. Suspicious. And it's just like it's not true. Yeah. And you know why I know it's not true. It's not because I know more than them. They're way smarter than me. I know what we don't know. Because I know if we knew it, we could actually help people in certain ways. Of course, that makes sense. But I'm glad you got the basal cell taken care of. Did you have to get a full skin check afterwards to make sure no cancer? I did. I've never gotten it again. Thank God. But once I had the facelift, then I went back for

the facelift. Wait, so you had two surgeries? Yeah. Or not at the same time? I would have liked to. Maybe insurance would cover it, but I found out that wasn't the case. So I had to separate them out, you know okay but i had a facelift of 40 50 60 and 70 wow so you have the tallest face ever i have no skin left they keep stretching that skin how do you feel but you look beautiful that's amazing i think i do look good yeah i go to a good surgeon okay i don't want that stretch stretch puffy lip look you know yeah i know yeah do do uh recover well post surgery i really do i really do i bruise and the bruising's gone like almost within five days yeah that's the the beauty genetics that you have right there. Yeah, that's just a lucky genetic.

You don't work for that one, yeah. Well, because, like, I get bruised. Like, I became a professional boxer this year. Any bruise takes me four weeks to heal. Really, then you'll never get a facelift. Okay, not getting a facelift. You don't need one now, but wait till you turn 30. Oh, my God.

It's a joke. No, that was the nicest compliment anyone. I didn't mean it. It's a joke. Oh, okay, so I don't look 30. Okay. How old, do you know how old I am? I don't know how old you are, but I used to guess ages at Palis City Museum

Park. And get paid for that. So I'm going to make a good guess and I bet I'm right. And I really don't know how old you are. Well, you also know that I graduated medical school and did all that stuff. Well, that's assumed.

I would say you're 47. Close. How old? 33. No? Are you 33? Bullshit. You're not 33.

Is he 33? You're 33? I thought you were saying it sarcastically. No, I meant it. Wow. Wow. Sorry about that. My grays are giving me the way.

I thought with the to-pay ad on, you're trying too hard. I know, but yeah. I've never gotten 15 years older than, I just turned 33. Well, you know, it's your own fault because of the way you pose the question. You look very proud. You put your chin up in the air and you're acting like, wow. Well, that's the goal. I was trying to mislead you by a couple of years here and then.

So you got what you deserved. You teased me and you got it. Okay. That's going to be the clip. But looking at you closer, if I had. had a chance to do it again. Now that I look at you close, I'd say 57. Okay. Well, at least it's going up, not down. And I couldn't be a professional boxer at age 47. Oh, you're not a professional boxer. I'm a professional boxer. No, you're. And I'm going to tell you why. Why? You wouldn't

risk that pretty boy face. Well, Barbara, I can tell you, you are very wrong. I fought on Showtime pay-per-view. Really? Six weeks ago, and I got my ass kicked and my face was demolished. Sam, show her my bloody face after the fight. This isn't you. That's me. Are you bullshitting? No. Let's see.

You can read the headline. Oh, that is you. You don't look. Maybe that's why I look 47. Chris Avila redecorated my face. Well, guess what your body looks fabulous. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that.

But your face from the side doesn't look good. No, no, no. He hit me hard. You know, you're ready for a facelift. I could see it. Yeah. Well, he lifted my face plenty of times during that fight. Isn't that funny, though?

Yeah, that's great. Good for you. Yeah, so I wasn't afraid to risk the pretty boy face. Wow. Yeah. And we did it for charity. Oh. I donated $125,000 that I got paid for the fight to the Boys and Girls Club here in Harlem.

Wow. So that was awesome. Paid a lot. I think I'll volunteer for 125. Really for that? Yeah. No, no facelift will cure what happens after a fight. Oh, really?

It's a problem. I won't do it. I'll say it. Because it's a fracture issue. Oh, I see. You break bones. That's why my nose is all crooked. Oh, it is crooked.

Yeah. You're right. Your brother had a tremendous accident. Oh, so sad. My brother John, my favorite brother is dead now, yeah. Yeah. But it had to have full spinal reconstruction surgery. Yes.

How do you know this stuff? I went through your medical records. Did you really? No, that would be illegal. But tell me about that journey. He was on a motorcycle, was hit by a truck, went down to a ditch. We couldn't find him for two days. Wow.

He had a cell phone. was alive and you know you have to get it it's not a search warrant but you have to get some legal permission yeah yeah so it took us two days to find him and then they said he'd never walk again he had no responsiveness in the lower part of his body but he got up and walked again wow he was in bed for in a coma for a couple of months then got up but he's a big guy a tough guy a roofer and he had the spirit of a man that you couldn't put down so it wasn't a surprise in a way but we were like mourning his crippled him yeah and then he wasn't you know so really so he came out of it and then You said he passed away?

He passed away because he went on a vacation in Costa Rica, had a heart attack. Oh, no, I'm so sorry. And always wanted to be, always wanted to be buried in Costa Rica where he always loved to vacation. And they did bury him, but they buried him on top of the ground. And they made a tower of beer bottles in his honor. Did he like beer? He drank way too much of him, but a beer bottles all the way to the moon.

Wow. Okay. Well, in his memory, then, we have this conversation. Yeah. Do you have a primary care doctor? I do. Do you have a good relationship with them? No.

I love your honesty. No, until recently, see, I wanted to go to a concierge doctor to eliminate a lot of the paperwork and referrals and everything else, but it doesn't really work that way. I think I'm with the wrong God. Actually, maybe afterwards or maybe now get your advice. How do you pick a good concierge doctor and what are they expected to do? When you say concierge doctor, what are you looking for them to do? I'm looking for them to help out when you're an emergency ward to get some attention on a

patient that needs attention. I would find a primary care doctor that has admitting privileges in a hospital. Great advice. They don't all have admitting privileges? Some do and some that do don't use it. So for example, my father has- because they don't want to use it. Yeah, like they want to be office-based physicians. I see. My father, for example, he's the same type of doctor that I am, family medicine. He has admitting privileges in an NYU local Brooklyn hospital, but he doesn't go there. So he sends his patients there, he can admit them, but he doesn't take care of them. The team there takes care of them, the hospital. That's not so bad, though, as long as you can get in.

Oh, no, no, for sure. But where I did my training, for example, in Atlantic Health in New Jersey here, when I would send a patient to get admitted, I would then take care of them while they're in the hospital. That's what I want. Yes. Yeah. So how do you find that person? You need a family medicine doctor with admitting privileges who does inpatient medicine.

And who isn't in New Jersey? Well, yes. Yeah, yeah. In New York. But you grew up in Jersey? I grew up in New Jersey, but I live in the city, and I want to be close to a hospital here. Do you live nearby in the city? I live on 97th and 5th.

Oh, okay. Yeah, very close to Mount Sinai. Not too far. Now, let me ask you another question. I don't mean to interview you, but I'm so curious. This is great. Okay. When you call an ambulance, 911, must they take you to the nearest hospital?

That's what I was told. I don't know if that's true. I think they probably do. I think it's like an insurance thing. So let's say you're my doctor. You're at Mount Sinai, and you're the father. hospital away, can I say my doctor's at Mount Sinai, that's where I want to go? I think you can. You can, yeah. You don't seem sure. I'm not sure. I can tell.

That's not my specialty. I can find out. You don't have to find out. No, I will find out. I think it's important for you to know that. But yeah, I think also the whole ambulance system and transport system in our hospital is so shady and it can become so expensive. That's why people are Ubering now to hospitals when they're having emergencies and that's really dangerous. The patient pays for the ambulance? Well, your insurance ends up paying for. Oh. And they charge ridiculous sums of money so people don't want to go because they don't want to,

like if they haven't met their deductible, they end up having to pay that. Oh. And it's really expensive, overpriced at times. Then like, let's say you're in a hospital system and you need to get transported to a faraway place, but you're unstable, you would need to go on a helicopter. Those things are even worse because they don't tell you prices up front and they act like it's a big emergency and all of a sudden you're fronting a hundred thousand dollar transport fee wow yeah wow i should check my bills i don't i assumed do you get helicopter to

not a helicopter but the ambulance i don't think i'm charged i don't know that well i mean your insurance probably gets next time i said to my husband walk no get the ambulance is the most important part that's why it's worrying to me that ubers get called because the uber driver that's an unfair thing absolutely i'm surprised they even take you in well they don't even know Wow. That's so dangerous. Wow. But that's what our health care system is leaving people to resort to.

And I work in a community health center, so a lot of people don't have money and are not well off. And as a result, they're facing even bigger struggles. Like, I'll give you an example. Patient walks into my office, diagnose them with a sinus infection. I write them a prescription. Here's a doxycycline. It's an antibiotic we use. Send them out on their way.

They go to the pharmacy. Their insurance denies it. They have to pay out of pocket. Why is your insurance denying a common antibiotic? Oh, because the doctor prescribed capsules and your insurance only covers tablets. But they don't tell you that. How can I know that as a doctor?

What this person's insurance covers? I'm sure you to agree with me. Whenever you call an insurance company for anything, it's a game of what they can pay. Yes. You have to outwit it almost. And it takes a lot of time. The shady part of insurances is this.

If you argue enough, you can get everything you deserve. While you die waiting. Yes. So the goal is that, They outlive you, the insurance company literally as evil as it's to say, or that you won't want to jump through the hoops or don't know how to jump through the hoops so they don't have to pay for it. I'm sure that's true because that's the feeling you get talking to them.

Yeah? Like if I ordered an MRI for you, for let's say we have a good reason. And I know it's a good reason. Order it anyway, because that's what my parents died of. I'd like to get one tomorrow, please. No, we don't get random MRIs for screening. That's not a good thing either. Just to check up.

No, we've got to talk about that too because that's important. But let's say I order an MRI because we need something. Let's say I'm following a patient's tumor size. So I'm like, we need an MRI to see how the tumor is behaving. I order it. The insurance company will deny it. I will call them. I will say the patient needs, why?

Because of this. Did you get a CAT scan first? No, they don't need a CAT scan. They need a number. No, they do. And I have to argue for 45 minutes. Guess what I don't get paid for as a doctor. Well, for me, I'm a weird scenario, but everyone else.

Time. Well, you don't have to because you're making so much money here. Well, I'm lucky. But if you're a lawyer, are you doing anything for 45 minutes? So not getting compensated? Not at all. Yeah. Is that unfair?

Yeah. And I don't find that doctors will call and argue. That's not been my experience. Okay. Most doctors will try and then we fail. So then we start trying to hire administrators to do it for us. And that is why health care costs have ballooned in this country. I see.

You would think our health care costs have double tripled and doctors should be making way more money. They're not. Yeah. The costs are going up because for every doctor, there's like, this could be wrong. in the range of 10 to 15 administrators. Wow. Because we don't understand. Like I order antibiotic.

I don't know which tablets, capsules. The patient's insurance denies the visit because I didn't put the right code or this. I'm a doctor. I do science. I do the body. I don't do codes. Yes.

But now you have to become like a business person, a lawyer, a doctor, all in one. But again, the objective of the insurance company is not to pay. Yes. That's the meaning not to pay. Yes. Yeah. I believe that.

So they're inherently like broken. Yeah. That's sad. Oh, let's talk about your MRI thing. because I'm passionate about that. Do you know why we don't just get random MRIs on people? I imagine you have some downside to it. I don't know what it is.

So MRI doesn't cause radiation, so it's not like a CAT scan. So that's not a problem. But if you're just doing a test for screening, which means that you don't have symptoms, you're otherwise healthy, and we're just testing to make sure everything's okay. You need to be able to be sure that the thing you're testing for is actionable and that you would want to go through with the plan.

So for example, let's say I have a patient who's having bleeding down below, like bathroom bleeding, and I say, you know what, we need to do a colonoscopy to find out the source of this bleeding. And the patient says, I would never have a surgery to take out a tumor. There's no point to do the colonoscopy. Absolutely. Because they don't want the end result, right? So you adjust.

With screening MRIs. However, they could change your mind when they find out what's really wrong with them. They might get scared and revisit it. Well, they might have a wife that badgers them. Any of these things are possible. I mean, everything is possible. But you try and be as objective as possible. For a screening MRI, our bodies have lumps, bumps,

nodules that are not always of significance. In fact, most of the time, they're not of significance. And when we find these little centimeter nodules, what do we have to do? We have to follow them. We have to keep scanning for them. We might have to do biopsies. Now that we found one, I have to do it.

What do you mean? There's a bump there, I have to do it. And now I'm doing an invasive test on you with a needle and going into your body, causing an infection, causing a side. Whereas if you just left it alone, it would have been fine. Yes, I see. I have a good story for you.

You probably hear all the doctor's stories. My son, who was 16 at the time, he said he had a bump in his private spot and it was getting larger. I said, well, we gotta see someone. We went to his regular doctor. He recommended a woman. We went to her office like the next day.

She examined him, she comes out. She says, I have bad news. He's going to have to have surgery. And he should have it right away. I could schedule on Monday. It's a tumor and it grows rapidly. We were in a panic. From the physical exam she was able to? That's what she said. Okay, but we didn't know about it. We were a patient. Sure. Okay. You need my phone number in your phone. Okay. To ask me these things. All right. So anyway, we believe there's just seemed credible, very young doctor, extremely articulate. So we're going to schedule it. My son says, couldn't that make me infertile because you're messing around down there.

Shouldn't I save my sperm? That would be a good idea. And she gives them a referral. He had to think of that. We're leaving the office. I said, listen, I have to tell you, I've been to a lot of doctor offices. This office is so beautiful.

I've never seen a more beautiful doctor's office. Really, my compliments to you. And she said, oh, it's not my office. It's Dr. So-and-so's office. I rent a desk on Mondays. Rent a desk on Mondays. Wow. So we walked out of the office of my son and said,

Who else could we see? He went to a doctor. We went like two days later to a doctor. His place was a mess. He had files piled. He looked like such a mess. He looked, he said, no problem. We got in two weeks.

We couldn't believe it. We said, you're sure, you're sure? He says, positive. It was gone in two weeks. So it was a cyst of some kind. It was a cyst. It's just harmless cysts. He named it.

But isn't that crazy if we didn't go for another opinion? Or if I didn't make a comment on her beautiful lobby? Yeah. It's crazy. That's so scary. That's one of your best. stories you've heard I hope it's one of the most frightening

stories oh yeah I guess so because imagine something bad happens from that surgery that was unnecessary it's cool so get a second opinion that's what it did to me anytime there is a serious intervention like that that is potentially life-changing always get a second yeah because unless you've known the doctor

for an extended period of time you have a relationship like my doctor that operated on my knees my husband's knees shoulders my son's knees and everything that guy whatever he says no problem sign me up you know yeah yeah but that's scary and also your son was uh of the age that testicular cancer does happen yes because uh testicular cancer what's unique about it it affects the younger men and the older men middle age not so much really and it's usually very actionable with surgery but you don't diagnose it off of just looking yeah there were no test you can't it's physically

impossible to have x-ray hands and it's not even an x-ray that you would do it but i'm just saying this is a special doctor who had it obviously they could speak to the to tissues. That's my only good doctor story. Gets me angry. What about the fact that you had plastic surgery in your knees? I didn't have plastic surgery on my knees. I had my knees reconstructed from skiing accidents.

Can you do that, though? Because I have one baggy knee. I'd like to improve, honest to God. Okay. Well, tell me what you would want to improve upon. Well, let me show you my leg. I would, but I don't have stockings. Well, what the heck I'll show you.

Show me. Okay, so see this knee here? Okay. That's from that old original. It's all baggy. Yeah. Only in one knee. Could I have this removed?

the skin yeah that's what plastic surgery is beautiful like let it be it's not not pretty with with the you know what's not pretty getting a mean staff infection after a surgery for no reason not worth it right okay put my pants there we go all right no but um what tell me about the knee reconstruction what happened well i ski and that's my love of life so i had a terrible accident on my knee and i had to have it sanded i guess the kneecap okay very painful my gosh yeah i mean you were asleep i hope yeah but i was on yeah but i was on crutches six months and you know I was selling real estate. I sold more real estate than anybody in New York.

People felt sorry for me. I hobbled around. I mean it. I realized it's the best gimmick. I almost was tempted to keep the crutches, you know? Wow. But the second surgery was the same surgery. Little needle in, needle out, no scar.

Amazing in 10-year difference. And it was all from skiing. All from skiing, but it's worth it. It's worth it. You know, skiing is one of those things that I feel like life insurance policyholders probably take into consideration the most because it's so dangerous. Really? Yeah.

You cannot imagine the amount of injuries that come into my office and to the ER from skiing. Well, stop telling me about it because I'm not going to stop skiing. Where's your favorite place to ski? Deer Valley, because I blow it down. Where in Deer Valley? No, no, where is Deer Valley? I'm just not familiar. Oh, it's right next to Park City in Utah.

Oh, Utah. Okay, got it. So I got to go. I'm a terrible skier. I do like a blue diamond maybe. Why would you go after what you just said to me? I get punched in the face as a boxer. So, like, clearly I don't care about my own.

Look, just because I can lecture on it, doesn't mean I follow the advice. Because it is such a joyful sport. It's beautiful to be with nature. Yes. But I also hurt my shoulder skiing, which is hard to do, you know. But I deserved it. It's funny. All of my injuries happened when I was showing off.

Really? You'd think I would stop showing off. How were you showing off? Well, with the shoulder, I saw this hot skier. He must have been 16, 18 years old, bright colors. He bounces when he skis. And I looked at him, I said, he skis just like I used to ski. I'm going to compete.

So he took off. I said, I'm going to race into the bottom of the mountain. It was the bottom third. And I took after him, but I didn't know he was onto a moulder run. I don't do those. And I took off that moulder run and bounced down the mountain. Wow. And I ripped out my front of my cuff.

And then I was showing off again. You're like, I didn't learn my lesson the first time. Yeah, five years later, showing my kids what a good server I am in tennis. I hadn't played for 25 years. I just want to show them how to serve in Mexico. And I fell backwards and ripped it totally out on the back. It was like a dangle kind of thing. And the weirdest thing of that day, I mean, you could edit this out because it's a little.

We'll edit out anything you wanted it out. When I was laying on the court, I couldn't get attention. My kids were around me. They were trying to get attention. But there were a lot of workers wouldn't come near me. I was shouting, penny, penny, penny. Because I took Spanish three times. Penny, penny, it means penis, penis, penis.

But why are you yelling penis? I thought I was yelling pain, pain, pain. Oh, dule. So they didn't come near me. That's the truth. Okay. So now we're working on the Spanish as well. Do you speak other languages?

I try to speak Spanish, but I failed it a lot. Yeah, I'm the same way. I try and speak here with my patients so I can speak a little medical Spanish. Oh, you better make it good or don't feel insulted. They're appreciative of the fact that I make the effort. Oh, how nice. Because usually no one does. And in a result, people go on Google Translate.

It doesn't really work well. They feel like no one cares. But if you're trying, even if you're failing, the effort is visible. It's called empathy. So important than anything. Yes, exactly. Don't speak Spanish to me. I won't get it.

I also, I'm Russian born, so I speak Russian as well. Do you really? I have a guy in my office that took training online during COVID and speaks Russian fluently. Oh, wow. And I think he paid 10. Why did he? He met someone who spoke Russian. Oh, he met a beautiful Russian lady.

No, no, it was a guy. He thought it was cool and he learned it. But he said it was, he really, Well, it's a hard language, but he only paid, I think, $15 an hour for somebody in Russia to teach him one-on-one. Wow. Do you know you could do that online in any language? Yeah, you can't. Well, I guess that kind of makes sense with Skype and Zoom and Google Meets and all these other virtual things.