158 - Healthcare Jobs Are Propping Up the Economy | Here’s Why That’s Dangerous

Author: Marcus Whitney & Vic Gatto
Published: Sat 13 Sep 2025
Episode Link: None

Vic and Marcus mark 9/11, condemn political violence after the Charlie Kirk assassination, and review economic shifts including inflation at 2.9%, job revisions, rising unemployment, record markets, and healthcare’s outsized role in job growth. They cover major healthcare and policy moves (Strive’s $550M raise, AI voice agents, Epic antitrust case, drug ad limits, California PE scrutiny, CMS pressure on Medicaid payments), rising employer costs and PBM battles, payvider and consumer health updates (Kaiser in Nevada, Hims & Hers testosterone, Instacart tackling food insecurity), pharma news (Novo layoffs, Novartis acquisition, J&J bladder-cancer treatment, GLP-1 weight-loss challenges), and tech/AI shifts from billionaire longevity pushes to tokenized securities, Robinhood’s social trading, Oracle’s AI-first EHR and $300B OpenAI deal, and the first AI-made feature film

Links

4:52 - Charlie Kirk Assassination Raises Fear of Surging Political Violence NYT

6:31 - In Public and in Private, New York Prepares to Mark 9/11 Anniversary NYT

6:36 - Inflation Rose to 2.9% in August WSJ

10:42 - U.S. Added 911,000 Fewer Jobs in the Year Ended in March WSJ

11:03 - US Initial Jobless Claims Jump to Highest in Almost Four Years Bloomberg

12:12 - Hiring Stalled in August, With 22,000 New Jobs WSJ

12:32 - Healthcare Jobs Are a Rare Bright Spot in the Stalling Labor Market WSJ

14:30 - All Three Major Stock-Market Indexes Close at Records on Hopes for Deeper Rate Cuts WSJ

15:57 - Inflation Erased U.S. Income Gains Last Year WSJ

20:09 - Strive Health Secures $550M to Advance Value-Based Kidney Care Model MedCity

21:42 - Hello Patient secures $22.5M as investors bet on AI voice agent growth Fierce Healthcare