04/05/2026: Return to Ram, Ghost Train, The Mardi Gras Indians

About this episode

The episode covers healthcare challenges in America, the state of high-speed rail, and the cultural significance of the Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans.

As the affordable care marketplace has seen premiums rise and Medicaid faces its biggest cuts ever, correspondent Scott Pelley revisits one charity, Remote Area Medical, that delivers aid to Americans cut off from healthcare by location and cost. At one of RAM’s free, pop-up clinics, Pelley meets patients sleeping in their cars and standing in line, many hundreds of miles from their homes, in desperate need of care. Countries around the world have built high-speed rail - why has it failed to catch on in the U.S.? An ambitious state-run project connecting L.A. and San Francisco is vastly behind schedule and has seen costs balloon. One private company is hoping it can succeed where the public sector hasn’t – but that too faces challenges. Correspondent Jon Wertheim reports on the state of high-speed rail in the U.S. – which has become a stand-in for a broader question: can America still build big things? Every year on Mardi Gras Day, Black revelers roam the backstreets of New Orleans in dazzling, hand-sewn suits that take an entire year to create. Correspondent Bill Whitaker meets the Mardi Gras Indians, also known as Black Masking Indians, one of America’s last secret societies…

People in this episode

Hosts: Scott Pelley, Jon Wertheim, Bill Whitaker

Topics covered

• healthcare
• high-speed rail
• Mardi Gras Indians
• charity
• transportation
• culture

Keywords

• Los Angeles
• San Francisco
• Mardi Gras
• Black Masking Indians
• Remote Area Medical
• affordable care marketplace
• Medicaid cuts
• high-speed rail

Mentioned in this episode

Places: U.S., L.A., San Francisco, America, New Orleans

More episodes of 60 Minutes

• 06/07/2026: Under Siege, Turning The Ship Around, The Dog Aging Project · June 8, 2026 · 42 min
• 05/31/2026: Germany Rearms, Freezing the Biological Clock · June 1, 2026 · 41 min
• 05/24/2026: Booms, Busts and Bubbles, Sculpting Evolution, The Payam Method · May 25, 2026 · 44 min
• 05/17/2026: Betting on War, The Knowledge, Christopher Nolan · May 18, 2026 · 43 min
• 05/10/2026: Prime Minister Netanyahu, Drawing the Lines, Gout Gout · May 11, 2026 · 43 min
• 05/03/2026: Disaster Tourists, Birds of War, Perfume Capital of the World · May 4, 2026 · 43 min