Vic and Marcus discuss easing inflation, the growing number of workers locked out of the job market, and major venture funding rounds for AI-powered healthcare companies. They examine proposed Medicare physician payment cuts, prior authorization policy, Medicaid challenges, insurer earnings, and mounting financial pressure on hospitals as care continues shifting to outpatient settings. They also cover Eli Lilly's latest acquisition, a first-of-its-kind cholesterol pill, food safety concerns, new wearable health technology, Visa's stablecoin platform, AI agent commerce, and China's rapid advances in artificial intelligence that are reshaping global competition.
Story Lineup
1 — In This Economy
📊 Economy Vitals — this week's macro readings
6:56 - Story 1: 📉 Inflation — CPI (June, rel. Jul 14): CNBC
8:09 - Story 2:👷 Labor — initial jobless claims (wk ending Jul 4): https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/unemployment-long-term-job-market-629199f9?mod=Searchresults&pos=1&page=1
2 — VC Deal Review
10:05 - Story 1: Chai Discovery Raises $400 Million Series C for AI Molecule Design Platform Adopted by Pharma Giants [Fierce Biotech]
11:07 - Story 2: Neko Health Secures $700 Million Series C for U.S. Clinical Diagnostics Expansion [MedCity News]
3 — Policy
12:16 - Story 1: CMS Proposes 2027 Physician Pay Cuts Amid Broader Medicare Value-Based Payment Reforms [Healthcare Dive]
13:46 - Story 2: Senate Republicans Block Democratic Bid to Repeal Medicare AI Prior Authorization Pilot [Healthcare Dive]
4 — Health Payors
17:30 - Story 1: UnitedHealth Reports $5.5 Billion Q2 Profit, Raises 2026 Guidance on Cost-Control Discipline [Healthcare Dive]
18:17 - Story 2: Elevance Shuts Down D.C. Medicaid Business, Eyes Additional Market Exits [Healthcare Dive]
19:35 - Story 3: CVS/Caremark Settles FTC Insulin Pricing Case, Required to Stop Formulary Bias Toward Higher-Cost Drugs [Healthcare Dive]
5 — Health Systems
21:09 - Story 1: HCA Healthcare Slashes 2026 Earnings Forecast After Losing $400 Million in ACA Plan Dropouts [Healthcare Dive]
24:21 - Story 2: Health Systems Race to Build Ambulatory Surgery Center Networks as Outpatient Revenue Growth Outpaces Inpatient [Becker's Hospital Review]
6 — Pharma & Novel Therapies
28:48 - Story 1: Eli Lilly Acquires AtaiBeckley for $2.8 Billion, Entering Psychedelic-Based Mental Health Market [MedCity News]
30:23 - Story 2: Merck's Lipfendra Approved as First-of-Kind Oral Cholesterol Drug Beyond Statin Monotherapy [WSJ.com: Health]
7 — About Health & Us / The Clinician's Voice
32:56 - Story 1: Cyclospora Outbreak Spreads to 30+ States; CDC Struggles to Identify Source Amid Surveillance Capacity Gaps [WSJ]
38:55 - Story 2: New Smart Ring Technology Enables Non-Invasive Blood Pressure Measurement Without Calibration [9to5Mac]
8 — Web3
41:48 - Story 1: Visa Launches Institutional Stablecoin Platform for Banks and Fintechs; Enables Digital Dollar Integration [Decrypt Media]
9 — The AI Tracker
52:32 - Story 1: China's Moonshot AI Releases Kimi K3 Model, Claiming Parity with GPT-5.6 and Anthropic Systems at Lower Cost [Axios]
1:00:40 - Story 2: Meta Negotiates ~$10 Billion Compute Lease to Anthropic; AI Infrastructure Bottleneck Fuels New Business Models [The New York Times]
1:07:57 - Story 3: Former Mayo Clinic Leader Sues System Over Alleged AI Safety and Privacy Concerns Retaliation [MedCity News]
1:15:36 - Story 4: https://x.com/chamath/status/2077018028852588687?s=20
