What is America?
Hi! I'm John, and this is "What is America?" podcast. For the next year, I'm gonna drive around the country and talk to people about their lives. The goal is to help rebuild our broken politics. Wanna come?
What is America?
Ep 12: She's been a nurse for 30 years—and watched our healthcare crumble (with Mari Walker)
For the last thirty years, Mari Walker has been a nurse in Northeast Pennsylvania 👩🏼⚕️💟
She started out working in hospitals; since then, she’s also spent time in addiction and hospice care.
When I asked her whether the US healthcare system is ready to meet the challenges it faces, her answer was simple: No.
According to Mari, the story is one of misaligned incentives. Instead of being optimized for patient outcomes, the US healthcare system is built to deliver profits to insurance companies and private equity firms. As a result, we pay more than any other country for our healthcare, but our health outcomes are conspicuously not great.
The great thing about Mari is that she’s a builder. She loves to roll up her sleeves, get in there, and fix what’s broken. She says we can fix the US healthcare system, but it’s gonna take some doing.
[Side note] To learn more about the futuristic home I visited in upstate New York, check out the link below:
https://www.thecatskillproject.com/