On this special mid-2026 edition of PopHealth Week, hosts Fred Goldstein, MS (President, Accountable Health) and Gregg Anthony Masters, MPH take an unflinching look at the state of U.S. population and public health at the halfway point of 2026. What they find is not drift, it is intentional dismantling. Three storylines define the moment: RFK Jr.&#x27;s ideological remake of HHS, a CDC operating without confirmed leadership during a record-setting measles outbreak, and an FDA commissioner pushed out after refusing to approve fruit-flavored vapes. Goldstein and Masters hold both the legitimate grievances embedded in the MAHA agenda, i.e., chronic disease, food systems, polypharmacy and the dangerous prescriptions being applied in its name: vaccine messaging ambiguity, fluoride removals, fabricated citations in federal health reports.<br><br>To stream our Station live 24/7 visit www.HealthcareNOWRadio.com or ask your Smart Device to “….Play Healthcare NOW Radio”.<br><br>Find all of our network podcasts on your favorite podcast platforms and be sure to subscribe and like us. Learn more at www.healthcarenowradio.com/listen

PopHealth Week: A PopHealth Week Mid 2026 Review of Federal Public Health Infrastruture

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Welcome to PopHealth Week streaming live on Healthcare NOW Radio. I'm Craig Masters, Co-Founder and Executive Producer. Joining me in the virtual studio is partner and Co-Founder Fred Goldstein, Lead Host and President at Accountable Health LLC.

PopHealth Week is your destination for unfiltered conversations with the visionaries driving population health forward. Whether you're a payer, provider, patient vendor or policymaker, this is your go-to hub for fresh strategies and insights into population health best practices.

Want to stay connected? Visit popupstudio.productions or message me on Twitter via at gregmastersmph and that's greg with two g's. And do follow the show at PopHealth Week to reach Fred direct. Visit www.accountablehealthllc.com. With no further delay, Fred, who's in the seat today?

Welcome to a special edition of PopHealth Week on Healthcare NOW Radio. I'm Greg Masters, Co-Creator and Editor for my partner, Lead Host and Co-Creator Fred Goldstein. Today, we're prompted to do a special edition, what we're calling a mid-2026 review on the state of population health and public health, given everything that's going on. So with no further ado, let's get right to it.

Let's talk about the big picture. The federal health apparatus is being reshaped by political and ideological priorities that frequently diverge and sometimes directly contradict the scientific consensus that has governed public health practice for decades. This isn't uniform cross-agencies, but the cumulative effect on population health infrastructure is real, measurable and unfortunately accelerating.

Three storylines define the moment. RFK's ideological remake of HHS, a CDC that is leaderless during a record measles outbreak, and an FDA commissioner forced out for refusing to approve flavored vapes on a presidential timeline. Let's set the stakes. Fred, we've done a lot of episodes on policy drift, on underfunding, on the slow erosion of public health infrastructure.

PopHealth Week: A PopHealth Week Mid 2026 Review of Federal Public Health Infrastruture

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

PopHealth Week: A PopHealth Week Mid 2026 Review of Federal Public Health Infrastruture

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.