Trumpcare Tracker

On this week’s episode of Well, Now we get to the heart of what “wellness” actually means. Depending on who you ask, you get a lot of different answers.  So Maya and Kavita sit down with veteran journalist Isabel Burton to define the term. Burton was the executive editor of renowned health-and-wellness magazines Shape and Self. If you liked this episode, check out: A Toast to Dry January Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery. Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Small talk has a bad reputation. It’s boring, shallow, and awkward. Who really wants to talk about the weather, again? But, when done right, it can be a cornerstone of connection. In this episode, Carvell Wallace is joined by Susan McPherson, the author of The Lost Art of Connecting. Susan is going to help our listener, Bee, navigate the uncomfortable small talk that she endures everyday at school pickup. Along the way, we’ll learn what questions to have in our back pocket, how to turn small talk into big talk, and even how to extract ourselves from conversations that are going on too long.  If you liked this episode, check out: How To Talk to Strangers and How To Make Humor Your Superpower Do you have a problem that needs solving? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show. Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. How To’s executive producer is Derek John. Joel Meyer is our senior editor/producer and our producer is Rosem

On the first episode of Well, Now – Slate’s new podcast on health and wellness – hosts Dr. Kavita Patel and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Maya Feller tackle resolutions.  A popular one? Sobriety. Or at least Dry January. With more people becoming “sober curious” Kavita and Maya visit a sober speakeasy in Brooklyn, hosted by the zero-proof cocktail maker Curious Elixirs.  They sit down with the company’s founder and CEO JW Wiseman over some drinks and talk about the rise of the “sober curious” movement. Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with help from Kevin Bendis. Editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery. Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com. If you liked this episode, be sure to follow Well, Now wherever you listen to podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sometimes reading our news feeds can feel like getting hit by a semi-truck of devastating information, without really knowing how to respond. We can’t always tune the world out, which means we need to figure out how to be an empathetic person within the chaos. In this episode, Courtney Martin is joined by public theologian and best-selling author, Nadia Bolz-Weber, as well as artist and activist, Jen Bloomer. Together they explore what it means to actually respond to tragedy and injustice.   LINKS: Jen Bloomer’s artwork Valerie Kaur’s book See No Strangers If you liked this episode, check out: How To Have a Healthier News Diet: Part 1 and Part 2.  Do you have a problem that needs solving? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show. Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. How To’s executive producer is Derek John. Joel Meyer is our senior editor/producer and our producer is Rosemary Belson.  Slate Plus members get bonus

We all want wellness, but what does that mean exactly?  Is it achieving diet and exercise goals, or finally reaching a place where you’re happy with your body as it is? Is wellness the thing that will keep you out of the doctor’s office, or give you information you need to advocate for yourself when you get there? No matter what you define as living a life of wellness, our expert hosts want to help you get there. Every week, Dr. Kavita Patel and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Maya Feller talk with professionals from all over the wellness industry and people just like you who will share what they’ve learned on their way to wellness. Follow Well, Now from Slate wherever you listen to podcasts. Our first episode drops Wednesday, Jan. 10. Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery. Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… new year, new you?  If you’ve resolved to make 2024 your happiest, healthiest, most organized, most peaceful, etc. year yet? You’re not alone. And if you’re pretty sure the people who have made resolutions are doomed to abandon ship before January is over… you’re not alone, either. Nor are you wrong, exactly. In the season of giving, getting, and evaluating self-improvement advice, there’s a line between over-optimism and self-limiting skepticism. And our guest wants to help you walk that line.  Zak Rosen, host of The Best Advice Show and co-host of Slate’s Care & Feeding, joins us.  If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com Podcast production by Maura Currie. You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When he’s not working on How To! or coaching his daughter’s basketball team, our producer Derek John loves to play in pickup games with friends. But a serious on-court injury has kept him on the sidelines for months. Now, as he prepares to return to the sport he loves, Derek is seeking tips on how to prolong his playing days while avoiding another injury. In this episode, author Jeff Bercovici joins Carvell Wallace and Derek to share insights from his book, Play On: The New Science of Elite Performance at Any Age.  If you liked this episode, check out: How To Trick Your Brain Into Running Longer.  Do you have a problem that needs solving? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show. Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. How To’s executive producer is Derek John. Joel Meyer is our senior editor/producer and our producer is Rosemary Belson. This episode was produced by Kevin Bendis. Slate Plus members get bonus segments a

Before 1990, there had never been a documented case of a patient getting HIV from a health care worker. Kimberly Bergalis changed that. Her claim that she’d been infected by her dentist would captivate and terrify the country. And the dentist, David Acer, would be made into a villain without America ever knowing who he really was. This episode was written by Kelly Jones and Josh Levin, One Year’s editorial director. One Year’s senior producer is Evan Chung. This episode was produced by Kelly Jones and Evan Chung, with additional production by Olivia Briley.  It was edited by Joel Meyer and Derek John, Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts. Merritt Jacob is senior technical director. We had mixing help from Kevin Bendis. We had production help this season from Jabari Butler. Join Slate Plus to get a special behind-the-scenes conversation at the end of our season about how we put together our 1990 stories. Slate Plus members also get to listen to all Slate podcasts without any ads. Learn more abo

In September, Brittany Watts had a miscarriage at her home in Ohio. Prosecutors are now charging her with “abuse of a corpse,” a felony that could result in up to a year in prison.  When does a miscarriage become a felony? And could the anti-abortion movement be using this case as a step towards achieving “fetal personhood”? Guest: Mary Ziegler, law professor at UC Davis and author of Roe: The History of a National Obsession. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, host Isaac Butler is joined by actor, writer, director Erik Jensen for a frank conversation about his recent cancer diagnosis and the challenges artists face holding on to health-care coverage, especially in the age of streaming. They go on to discuss Jensen’s continued creative activity, including a new film project he co-directed with his wife and acted in with his daughter. Later, Jensen explains some of the intricacies of the recent writers’ and actors’ strikes. After the interview, co-host June Thomas joins Isaac to talk about the value of being candid about the financial realities of being a freelance artist. They also dive into creative collaborations and the importance of communicating clearly with the people you work with. Learn more about Erik Jensen’s story and make a donation here. Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675. Podcast production by Kevin Bendis and Cameron Drews. Learn more about your ad choices

Earlier this week, the Texas Supreme Court said Kate Cox couldn’t have an abortion.Cox’s doctors had diagnosed the fetus with Trisomy 18, an almost certainly fatal genetic condition. On top of that, there were concerns about whether or not Cox would be able to have children again in the future if she continued with this pregnancy. None of this was enough for nine judges in Texas to allow Cox to have an abortion. Cox’s story isn’t unique. Amanda Zurawski almost died after a Texas court said she couldn’t have an abortion. Today, she’s the lead plaintiff in Zurawski v. State of Texas. She joins Amicus this week to show the real, human effects of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Zurawski is joined by one of the lawyers representing her in the case, Jamie Levitt. In this week’s Amicus Plus segment, Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern talks about another made-up case that this time, won’t make it to SCOTUS.  Sign up for Slate Plus now to listen and support our show. Learn more about your ad choices.

In recent years, several states and localities have passed “crown” laws, statutes that keep employers from discriminating against African Amercans for wearing their hair in natural styles. That’s because, historically, having straight hair has often been a requirement for professional advancement for Black women in particular. But there is more science emerging that connects chemical relaxers with cancer. In today’s episode of A Word, reporter and cancer survivor Victoria St. Martin speaks with host Jason Johnson about the dangers of formaldehyde in hair relaxers, the history of marketing toxic cosmetics to African Americans, and consumer efforts to raise awareness. Guest: Victoria St. Martin, Inside Climate News reporter  Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for $15 for your first three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kate Cox’s fight to abort her pregnancy and save her fertility in Texas says a lot about America’s post-Roe, fractured approach to reproductive rights. Guest: Selena Simmons-Duffin, health policy correspondent at NPR. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For pilots facing mental health problems, of almost any kind, the cost of getting help might be too much to bear. After a crisis on an Alaska Airlines flight, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are examining how to make the skies safer, while allowing pilots to get help.  Guest: Pete Muntean, pilot, flight instructor and CNN correspondent covering aviation and transportation. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan enlisted in the Army in 2003 during the early phase of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He just retired after 20 years of service—and is adjusting to myriad challenges of civilian life while also managing PTSD, ADHD and new sobriety. On this episode of How To!, Bob Beard of Arizona State University’s Center for Science and the Imagination joins us to talk about a new program that’s helping veterans like Dan plan for the distant future using science fiction, conceptual art, and strategies employed by Fortune 500 companies. If you liked this episode, check out How To Breathe Like a Navy SEAL.  Do you have a problem that needs solving? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show. Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. How To’s executive producer is Derek John. Joel Meyer is our senior editor/producer. The show is produced by Rosemary Belson and Kevin Bendis.  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podca

In March 1990, a story broke that shocked the nation: George H.W. Bush had banned broccoli from Air Force One. The frenzy that came next would change the fate of a vegetable—and maybe even alter the course of a presidency. This episode was written by Olivia Briley and Josh Levin, One Year’s editorial director. One Year’s senior producer is Evan Chung. This episode was produced by Olivia Briley and Kelly Jones.  It was edited by Joel Meyer and Evan Chung. Derek John is Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts.  Merritt Jacob is senior technical director. Join Slate Plus to get a special behind-the-scenes conversation at the end of our season about how we put together our 1990 stories. Slate Plus members also get to listen to all Slate podcasts without any ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Sacklers were set to pay $6 billion in exchange for immunity from any future lawsuits over their role in the opioid crisis. But the Supreme Court will now decide whether bankruptcy law can be wielded in this manner to protect the very wealthy—and trump the very-American right to sue for damages.  Guest: Brian Mann, reporter on addiction at NPR. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California’s new “CARE courts” are designed to help people struggling with psychotic disorders to get the help they need. But is having judges mandate treatment a step in the right direction? Guest: April Dembosky, health correspondent for KQED. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… great, but not enough. Mental health is on a lot of minds as we enter the holiday season — a time when we know many people struggle. So this week, we talk candidly about what it means to treat mental illness… and what it should mean, if we want that treatment to be effective, long-lasting, and sensitive. Spoiler: psychiatry and psychology are not the panaceas you might think. Erin Grimm, author and mental health advocate, joins us. ** NOTE: This episode contains candid discussion of mental health crises and treatment. Listener discretion is advised; if you or a loved one need help, you can contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 24/7 by calling or texting 988. You can also visit the lifeline online, and explore more resources from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com Podcast production by Maura Currie. You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out

Hot flashes, fatigue, and vaginal dryness were some of Katie’s first clues that her body was changing. Half the population will experience menopause, yet misinformation still abounds—with doctors ill-prepared to talk to patients about this major life transition. On this episode of How To!, journalist Susan Dominus joins us to share the knowledge she gained from working on her viral magazine piece, “Women Have Been Misled About Menopause.” She explains why women’s pain has been ignored for so long, where to look for information, and how to connect with others during this confusing phase of life.  Resources mentioned:  “If Men Could Menstruate” by Gloria Steinem What Fresh Hell Is This?: Perimenopause, Menopause, Other Indignities, and You by Heather Corinna The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism by Dr. Jen Gunter Hot Flash Sonnets by Moira Egan Alloy Midi If you liked this episode, check out: How To Make Aging Easier for Everyone.  Do you have a problem that needs solving? Send us