921 - Health Scare feat. Tim Faust (3/31/25)

OBAMNA

The first Tim Faust episode is one of the best Chapo episodes of all time. It's awesome to get a worthy sequel.

A favorite ex-coworker and probably the hardest-working of any is unfortunately a listener of the PodJons, but he was really hard up during COVID and went on Medicaid. He described it as the best medical care he’s ever received. Shame he joined the company I worked for and sacrificed the good cheap coverage for expensive, shitty coverage!

Tim is the shit, highly recommend his book (outstanding). He has outstanding metal ops, as well. 🤟

Wow this guy lives in MKE too, wonder if we've met. I'd definitely be dead by now if not for badgercare but my mom keeps sending me stories about how 'good' it is that medicaid and snap are getting cut by doge to 'save money'

Absolutely— the current medical system is a tool of employer control and enforcement of domestic feudalism; contributing to domestic violence against women and children who would otherwise leave their husbands and of all workers being forced to stay with abusive employers. This work needs to multiply thank you!!

God bless you sir.

episode of the year

Appreciate this convo very much and strongly relate to Nf understand the stress of being uncovered medically.

I agree with everything Tim said, but there really is hope out there. If you are old like me and have followed health care policy for awhile, you know the conversation on Medicaid has changed TREMENDOUSLY. There was a time that serious conservatives in health care policy circles claimed that it was better to NOT HAVE health insurance, then to have Medicaid-yes really. NO ONE says this anymore, this is a victory. Trust me, Republicans in states like West Virginia are well aware of their population's dependency on Medicaid. I don't have the energy to link but a group of GOP reps tried hard to get the cuts out of the budget-yes they voted for it anyway, but again, this is a change. Josh Hawley stated he would. not vote for Medicaid cuts, and I believe the Senate is currently pushing a bill that just borrows more instead. It's easy to get discouraged but in fact this conversation has changed alot, and there is so much data to back up the larger positive effects, such as crime decreases. Do not believe people who tell you it doesn't matter-popular education is probably better then talking to politicians but talking to politicians is important too.

Tim is an S tier guest. Hopefully he can be back sooner than another 6-7 years.

charming ahh accent

I work in healthcare in a Medically underserved area and the org I work for is one of the only health systems that accepts Medicaid; which is one of the biggest reasons I wanted to work here. I hate the bureaucratic red tape the state insurance makes me jump through to get people care compared to Medicare or some other insurances but except for Medicare recently it seems all insurance plans have gotten shittier. Medicaid is the basement and all private insurance companies would love to bury it a bit further down so they can then sink their own plan benefits deeper in the mud. Lower the bar. Unfortunately this is the best argument I’ve come up with for people on private insurance who don’t believe it’s their responsibility to pay for other peoples care. You have to make it self referential to them and appeal to their selfishness. I liked Tim’s caged dog analogy but I can’t help but be reminded of the learned helplessness experiments and I think that’s more where we are as opposed to the dog that lashes out. I’ve tried the “humans are social animals” thing citing the studies about Medicaid expansion and decreased crime and it just doesn’t hold people’s attention. “I’m sure x person didn’t do y crime on z day because they were food insecure or lacked access to medical care…” And It’s essentially the same argument I have opposing gun control. Social structures inform psychological processes. Gun control advocates will sometimes admit in a backwards way that it’s true by trying to sell the idea of guns being more deadly than other violent means which may be true but also means you’re deliberately ignoring the root cause of violence in society in the first place. If we could capture the gun control lobby resources and pivot them to target the root causes of their issue which is essentially lack of or inadequate access to social welfare structures such as healthcare as opposed to fighting for magazine bans I feel like we’d be more likely to get change with some degree of permanence. Great episode.

How can I see "The Encampments" from California?

Tim made this a really beautiful episode. He has a real gift for articulating this current moment in American healthcare and a vision for a better way forward. Well done boys.

thanks, guys. this was great. took me a bunch of little nibbles while working all day to get through, and was utterly devastating, but it was that productive (know it when you see it) kind of devastation, and—unbelievably—left me feeling something like more hopeful—surely clearer. whether i’ve got the language or not: it feels like a gift and an important one. i mean it. hard to feel anything but wholly obliterated or disassociatively numb around these kinds of Big Important things, but you pulled it off. grateful for that. also just seems like a difficult task to do. anyways. ty

How much longer until USA gets the Canadian Equivalent to Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) is a legal process allowing eligible individuals to receive assistance from a medical practitioner in ending their life, under specific circumstances

I'm not saying it was a *bad* ep, but it definitely didn't have my preferred ratio of laughs/existential dread

I stopped drinking soda more than a decade ago. But Rum ALWAYS must be mixed with coke.

Wow, his solution is talk to our legislators?? Why didn’t I think of that?? He’s a goddamn genius…

Washington state's Medicaid is called Apple Health, so naturally I assumed Wisconsin would have Cheese Health. Disappointed.

Strong episode.

Felix's Malaysian soda ignorance was shocking and Disney better remove him from Pixar's soda

Yo, I heard you had a 103 fever for the past six months, ya body burnin’ up like a weed-filled blunt

Like come on can we be serious? These dems just willingly lost an election so they could murder hundreds of thousands of innocent people and steal their land. They are not about to "respond to pressure" on medical policy. They will just threaten you with the republicans being in charge and send you on your way. We MUST stop trying things that have been proven not to work! We cannot afford this!

Going to talk to your "representatives" will do absolutely nothing and thats a great way to get people burned out, demotivated, and make sure that absolutely nothing will change. Its counterinsurgency nothing more.

Love the call back to Tims boys are back in town vice piece at the end there.

Got to say, the Koreans are catching up with the US in soda technology... Some of the stuff OKF are doing in the field of grape and watermelon flavour is pretty good. Amazing things are happening on the Korean peninsula... A treat-gap is forming.

Fellow swine flu victim. That shit gave me a 105+ degree fever.

I have a chronic neurological condition that makes it unsafe for me to work and illegal for me to drive without anticonvulsant medication. Don’t know if I would be alive today without Medicaid. If Medicaid becomes contingent on work status then it’s inevitable that many people like me won’t be able to work, and therefore will never qualify. (Then again, in that circumstance, being unemployed would quickly become the least of our problems.) Thanks for the episode. Thank you for your story Tim.

No cap, ever since I replaced my beer at dinner with soda, I have been able to fly

Fuck it, chapo start a third party break the fifth wall

Article Faust recommended: https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/supply-side-healthcare/

Pretty bad that the Abundance Agenda doesn’t understand healthcare considering that Ezra Klein was originally a healthcare “wonk.”

This guest rules! Good ep. fellas!

Real soda heads don't drink that diet swill. We go for the real shit

Hey, I know you. You're that [swine flu] guy!

Go to Serbia and get proper surgery for $500

People liking Eric Cartman is not surprising considering television viewers also liked Archie Bunker (who Cartman was partially modelled on).

Healthcare is the critical issue. I’ve had the same thought as Will in that it’s used as tool of oppression by our employers

The boys should read Capital

good ep

What can I do? "Go... beg... erm... the liberal politicians?"

❤️ Tim Faust thanks for doing the real food work, glad he was on again, the very first Chapo I listened to was the first Tim Faust episode which really motivated me and I attended a town hall he did several years ago, blessed. Happy to hear the Sodas theme shout out E1.

Luigi hasn't been convicted of anything.

I am in the perfect middle. Too poor for paint, to rich for whitewash. I get no government assistance, but I have no disposable income. I have worked all of my life, yet I've had no heathcare for more than thirty years

I love when I see Felix talking about a niche topic like monster rehab on Twitter with Flesh Simulator then find a way to shoehorn it into the next episode. Also very fascinated by the right wing dipshits that say poor people are so stupid they need to be forced to not buy soda for their own health, but exclusively consume red meat and brown liquor.

Boy this ep got me fired up.

It's kind of hard to comprehend how cruel this system is. It's cruel to everyone, but especially to people who are receiving a life altering diagnosis that will require a lot of treatment. It's been several years and I've made only a tiny amount of progress in accepting that I've been dealt a crappy hand and am not going to get better, but that little bit of progress isn't even a drop in the bucket when I'm still (increasingly) worried about how I'm gonna possibly manage to pay for somewhat routine surgeries for the rest of my life.

Btw, who’s drinking all this Pepsi. Ive never seen someone voluntarily have one. I think I’ve known one Pepsi drinker in my life and he’s been dead for years.

I gave up soda for Lent, and just saw my Kum & Go put Blackberry DP on fountain 🥵

The sooner we can get medicare for all passed, and then immediately destroyed by the supreme court so we can finally drag reformists kicking and screaming into revolution the better. For this reason, I endorse Medicare for All.

Hearing about this chapo fan that Tim knows affected by healthcare really struck home. Could you have more folks (as Tim says) personal stories told on the show, I think that would be really affective

sodas are the best. someone should make a movie about them.

God I hate how much our Healthcare system seems to had it's architecture built by time travelling Ferengi

Why can't I have no pneumonia and double money?

Soooo thrilled to have Tim Faust back. I wish Matt was there to join in on the Wisco old fashioned discourse though

it's so fucking true that if you have a stable career, then you just don't worry about healthcare. Therefore, you hear about medicaid getting cut and you're like whatever, doesn't affect me bro... I mean, if you're uninformed and don't care about social justice crap, or whatever

I have poor guy insurance in MO. At 22 I got pancreatitis and woke up after 30 day coma. Turning 26 was so scary and all I could think was I should just get a Ryder truck but eventually I heard someone talk about no income getting free healthcare and it changed everything. Now I'm scared to reenter the workforce and lose my ability to go to the doctor and ER - which I will always need!! I want to work! I can make ~$1,000 per month without losing it. Hard to find an okay job like that. In my state you basically had to sue to get it. Same with disability

finally a bailamos reference!

Shout out to Chris for choosing the only possible ending track. For the babies here, please check out Tim Faust’s other, arguably equally significant, claim to fame: 2015’s Vice essay, “I Played ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’ on a Bar Jukebox Until I Got Kicked Out”

Nah I saw a silly tiktok the other day about how you need to enjoy life because you could lose it all in an instant, since America is literally the Thunderdome (they didnt mention that last part)

They say it negatively affects your credit to not pay medical bills, but I believe this isn’t true… or that at-least, is my experience… Due to a youth spent lost in IV drug addiction, my partner and I accumulated just over 100k in ER visits and never paid a dollar. It never affected our credit scores or our lives at all. They sent bills, we ignored. They sent to collections, we ignored… we could just be lucky, but my theory is that so many people default on medical bills that if they enforced financial penalties, then the entire financial (social) credit score scam would fall apart entirely. … maybe now that we have insurance and pay into the system it would be different? But when we were uninsured, we used the ER and various urgent cares like a primary care doctor (as well as for emergencies) and never faced an ounce of penalty… my first episode with kidney stones they sent in a finance person who handed me a bill for 5k, they said if I paid 250 dollars on the spot that the rest of the bill was cleared. I said please leave I’m not paying you now or ever. They were desperate to get ANY money out of me, as they are all the people who go to ER without insurance. No one pays. No one. Any similar experiences?

Medical is the only reason my mother, an undocumented immigrant, was able to receive her breast cancer treatment without facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in bills.. She passed away about a year and a half after her diagnosis and the psychos will say it was a waste of tax payer dollars but I would give my life to make sure nobody goes through the fear of not affording cancer treatment.

I can hear Matt's words about Medicare being a perfect issue. It's classical workers talking and comparing notes. Help build them into a class.

Luigi ALLEGEDLY shooting the healthcare ceo. May they one day catch the real killer so they can be honored.

I don't know if you want the token bad kid biting the teacher as the face of medicaid.

Swine flu fucking sucked

Jason shurka, who is manny shurkas son (owner of the largest private construction firm in Israel, builds literal settlements) is pushing 5d healing technology with the backing of RFK, would not be surprised if that becomes gov mandated

https://www.nyhcampaign.org/

i was just on capitol hill for cancer advocacy, and the SAME DAY the house voted to gut cancer research under the CDMRP, then the senators i had just canvassed get on board to cut it even more. americans have this insane idea that nothing bad can ever happen to them. we live in a deeply fucked and evil society and i’m not sure how we move forward

once my probationary period is up this rural hospital is getting fucking unionized.

The FDA doesn't want you to know that if you drink 2x White Monster + 2x Monster Rehab you will get the Limitless drug effect for 50 minutes.

Great guest, instant classic.

Serious question: how does a nobody go about running for political office?

10m into this ep i bought and cracked open a ice cold 330ml can of Coca Cola Classic™

I feel seen with the rehab lemonade

I’ve been to wild rose wi for a camping trip. I fully embraced Wisconsin culture. I went to a bar called ding’s where I got fried fish, several brandy old fashioneds and a bunch of pull tabs. It truly is god’s country

The idea that americans will do anything other than complain and make memes about every social safety net being cut underneath their feet is genuenly hilarious. The US is becoming 90s Russia except there isnt even gonna be a parliament shelling because there is gonna be no resistance whatsoever.

Okay, but now can we get Heavy Medical back, because that was one of my favourite pods.

Just can't imagine Will happily draining a warm glass of milk after dinner.

Things I don't enjoy receiving in my email inbox: the words "Chapo Trap House" and "health scare" in close proximity

My fat identical twin sons texted me from their mom’s boyfriend’s house to let me know Secretary Kennedy is an enemy to PepsiCo. When will Robert F Kennedy Sr wake us up from this nightmare?

Unsure if this was a gaff or intentional but Will said, “I don’t want to hear a single lick from the OBUNDANCE Agenda people til they can solve the problem of just giving people healthcare in this country” Obundance is exactly what it deserves to be called

Tim!

Since Covid it has been funny/mind-numbing to hear “cmon lets get healthy, y’all!” from the same people who started eating bacon with every meal to spite Michelle Obama for growing a tomato at the White House in 2011

drove to work crying this morning because i'm so fucking stressed out about health care, rent, car insurance ect ect. i haven't had savings in years. my mental health is tanking at a rapid rate. everyday i am paralyzed with fear that something will happen to me that i can't afford to fix

Somewhat disappointed that the guys haven't spoken in a bit more depth about the deportations to El Salvador.

I graduated from a masters program in 2009 with 50k in student loans. I took a job for 10.25/hr at a call center just to have health insurance. It was the worst job I’ve ever had. There is a reason only rich kids get to pursue dream careers: they’re the ones that can afford to take the internships and low paying part time jobs without insurance so they can get their foot in the door.

I have a friend in rural Nebraska who is riddled with cancer at the age of forty. Her mom died in her fifties of cancer. Turns out they’ve been living by a huge superfund site. She is not able to get out of there. The hospital lets people die, just like they let her mom die. And the hospital will collect unpaid bills when ranchers die by taking their ranch. This country poisoned its own people and then refuse to treat them for the resulting disease. Even on Medicaid she’s going to have to go bankrupt from medical bills for a third time.

Ana de Armas is the soft power projection that Cuba needs, outside of their incredible doctors

The anti-seed oil thing is based on one discredited study, so right up RFK Jr’s alley.

You guys should look into a propublica article from last year about Medicare/Medicaid fraud. company I work dor defrauds billions yearly from the feds and every time they're caught the feds ask them nicely to stop. I doubt elon will touch this corporate slush fun's tho

Brandy old fashioned (aka Wisconsin old fashioned) is the best old fashioned

Tim rocks

"Assault on Medicaid" sounds like a Daily Wire movie

Dr Faustus is the mannus. Great ep

Defending soda is real Cartman mindset

This was all an alaborate stunt to promote Pixar's Sodas.

Republicans have to be increasingly unhinged to assure people are scared and beaten down enough to vote Democrat even as they offer nothing but a pause to the beating.

Squirt = Larry the Cable guy

Federal munding.

Glad to see Faust back. Great episode. Bring back the dude who like hit somebody with his car or something. What’s he been up to? The other bruenig. Where’s she? Even virgil. I forgive whatever he did or didn’t do. He would be a great guest. Some of the best jokes on the show.

Balls?

All the bubbles in the world, all the boys and all the girls, the power of soda is the power of friends ✨

Speaking of long lost guests, where’s Libby Watson at? She was on a handful of masterclass episodes in the first couple seasons of chapo …

Thank you Chapo for the slop tonight I had nothing to listen to at work!

Woof

I love you

Happy Birthday to me (April 1st in Australia). 😆 Slop for my present.

Swag

🐽🐽