In a wide-ranging conversation with Ezekiel Emanuel, the policymaking physician and medical gadfly, we discuss the massive effects of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. We also talk about the state of cancer care, mysteries in the gut microbiome, flaws in the U.S. healthcare system — and what a second Trump term means for healthcare policy.

SOURCES:Ezekiel Emanuel • , vice provost for Global Initiatives, co-director of the Health Transformation Institute, and professor at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

RESOURCES: • " Obesity Drugs Would Be Covered by Medicare and Medicaid Under Biden Proposal • ," by Margot Sanger-Katz ( The New York Times, • 2024). • " International Coverage of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists: A Review and Ethical Analysis of Discordant Approaches • ," by Johan L. Dellgren, and Govind Persad, and Ezekiel J. Emanuel ( The Lancet, • 2024). The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma, • by Mustafa Suleyman (2023). • " The Significance of Blockbusters in the Pharmaceutical Industry • ," by Alexander Schuhmacher, Markus Hinder, Nikolaj Boger, Dominik Hartl, and Oliver Gassmann ( Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, • 2022). Reinventing American Health Care: How the Affordable Care Act Will Improve Our Terribly Complex, Blatantly Unjust, Outrageously Expensive, Grossly Inefficient, Error Prone System, • by Ezekiel J. Emanuel (2014). • " Why I Hope to Die at 75 • ," by Ezekiel J. Emanuel ( The Atlantic • , 2014). • " Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Pharmaceuticals • ," by Ziad F. Gellad and Kenneth W. Lyles ( The American Journal of Medicine, • 2014). Brothers Emanuel: A Memoir of an American Family, • by Ezekiel J. Emanuel (2013). • " Bounds in Competing Risks Models and the War on Cancer • ," by Bo E. Honoré and Adriana Lleras-Muney ( Econometrica, • 2006).

EXTRAS: • " How to Fix Medical Research • ," by People I (Mostly) Admire • (2024). • " The Suddenly Diplomatic Rahm Emanuel • ," by Freakonomics Radio • (2023). • " Ari Emanuel Is Never Indifferent • ," by Freakonomics Radio • (2023). • " Who Pays for Multimillion-Dollar Miracle Cures? • " by Freakonomics, M.D. • (2023). • " Who Gets the Ventilator? • " by Freakonomics Radio • (2020).