How Insurance Brokers Affect Healthcare Costs, The Popularity Of Energy Bars, Takeaways From Cohen Testimony

Air Date:
Heard On Central Time
Jen Dubin (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Insurance brokers play a big role in how much you pay and how much coverage you get as an employee. We find out how your employer chooses an insurance plan and incentives that can lead to inflated costs and conflicts of interest. We also discuss how protein-packed, energy-focused granola bars went from an extreme athlete snack to being packed in school lunches. And, we recap the big takeaways from Michael Cohen’s testimony.

Featured in this Show

  • What Role Do Insurance Brokers Play In Pricing America's Health Insurance System?

    The business of selling insurance plans to employers is not one a lot of us get to see, but a new piece from ProPublica investigates how high-dollar insurance company incentives inflate insurance costs and can lead to conflicts of interest. We talk to the author of the report.

  • How Energy Bars Became So Popular

    After first coming on the scene more than three decades ago, energy bars have become one of the hottest natural food categories in the United States. We discuss what makes bars so popular, how they’ve evolved over the years and what they may tell us about… us.

  • Analyzing The Reaction To Michael Cohen's Congressional Testimony

    Before a House committee Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen called him a “racist, a “con man” and a “cheat.” We discuss the reaction to Cohen’s much anticipated testimony about Trump’s alleged hush-money payments to women and his knowledge of WikiLeaks’ dump of Democratic emails during the 2016 campaign.

Episode Credits

  • Rob Ferrett Host
  • Rachael Vasquez Producer
  • Bill Martens Producer
  • Marshall Allen Guest
  • Marc Peruzzi Guest
  • Mark Osler Guest