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Dr. Marty Makary On Why Health Care Costs Keep Skyrocketing — And What To Do About It

Dr. Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins University joined Wednesday's program.
Evie Hemphill | St. Louis Public Radio
Dr. Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins University joined Wednesday's program.
Dr. Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins University joined Wednesday's program.
Credit Evie Hemphill | St. Louis Public Radio
Dr. Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins University joined Wednesday's program.

Much of the conversation about contemporary American health care revolves around money more than actual medicine. But given the crushing costs associated with seemingly every aspect of the industry, that focus isn’t so surprising.

As Dr. Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins University notes in his newly published book, “The Price We Pay: What Broke American Healthcare — And How To Fix It,” one in five Americans currently has medical debt in collections.

On Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air, Makary joined host Sarah Fenske to talk about his research into why costs are skyrocketing — and what can be done to redesign the broken U.S. health care system.

Makary, who is a surgeon and professor of health policy as well as an author, joined the talk show in advance of his appearance Wednesday evening at St. Louis County Library.

Listen to the on-air discussion:

Related Event

What: Medical Arts Series presents Dr. Marty Makary

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019

Where: St. Louis County Library headquarters (1640 S. Lindbergh Ave., St. Louis, MO 63131)

St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by Sarah Fenske and produced by Alex Heuer, Emily Woodbury, Evie Hemphill, Lara Hamdan and Tonina Saputo. The engineer is Aaron Doerr, and production assistance is provided by Charlie McDonald.

Send questions and comments about this story to feedback@stlpublicradio.org.

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Evie Hemphill joined the St. Louis on the Air team in February 2018. After earning a bachelor’s degree in English literature in 2005, she started her career as a reporter for the Westminster Window in Colorado. Several years later she went on to pursue graduate work in creative writing at the University of Wyoming and moved to St. Louis upon earning an MFA in the spring of 2010. She worked as writer and editor for Washington University Libraries until 2014 and then spent several more years in public relations for the University of Missouri–St. Louis before making the shift to St. Louis Public Radio.