With Millions Expected to Lose Coverage, States Look for New Ways to Prevent Medical Debt

With Millions Expected to Lose Coverage, States Look for New Ways to Prevent Medical Debt

June 25, 2026 · 23 min · Season 1 · Episode 383

About this episode

This episode discusses the expected loss of health insurance coverage for millions of Americans and explores state strategies to prevent medical debt.

As millions of Americans are expected to lose health insurance coverage following federal cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, states are searching for new ways to prevent medical debt before it starts.  In this episode of Tradeoffs, economist Neale Mahoney explains the research into strategies for relief from high healthcare costs and evaluates policy fixes to protect consumers. Guest(s): Neale Mahoney , professor of economics, Trione Director of Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Stanford University. Learn more: Read the full reporting and explore additional resources on our website . Want more Tradeoffs? Join more than 5,500 readers who trust Tradeoffs for clear, deeply reported health policy insights. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter . Tradeoffs helps you cut through the noise with clear, deeply reported journalism on the forces driving health care's toughest choices — reporting you won't find anywhere else. If our work helps you stay informed, support it with a donation today . This episode was produced by Melanie Evans, edited by Ryan Levi and Dan Gorenstein, and mixed by Andrew Parrella. The Tradeoffs theme song was composed by Ty…

More episodes of Tradeoffs

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Tradeoffs podcast page.