The Puck: Venture Capital and Beyond · 2026-04-23 · 48 min
In this week's episode, Jim sits down with Dr. Ashish Jha - physician, health policy expert, and former White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator - for a candid look at what the pandemic revealed about how America actually works under pressure. This conversation moves well beyond COVID. Dr. Jha explains what happens inside government during a crisis, why emergency powers quietly reshape policy across the entire system, and how short-term urgency consistently crowds out long-term planning. From there, the discussion turns to the deeper structural issue: healthcare. The U.S. is on track to spend roughly $70 trillion on healthcare over the next decade - a number that sits at the center of federal debt, state budgets, and household finances. But the real problem isn’t how much care we use - it’s what we pay for it. Jim and Dr.
Avik Roy on Healthcare, Debt, and the Math Washington Won’t Touch100 / 100Annie Lamont on Healthcare, AI, Epic, Medicaid, and the Future of American Medicine79 / 100
Yuval Levin: Why America Stopped Trusting72 / 100
Episode 122: Katherine Baicker73 / 100
Episode 120: Dinny McMahon on China’s Hidden Crisis