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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 joins Wednesday's program.
Evie Hemphill | St. Louis Public Radio

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.

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Evie was a producer for "St. Louis on the Air" at St. Louis Public Radio.